LeBron James looks right into the camera during a one-shot confessional.
“I am at the top of my game, mentally and physically, every single day. If there was somebody on the floor that I felt was in better condition or was a better fit for the moment than me, then I could possibly sit down for a little longer. I have not seen that yet.”
The Los Angeles Lakers star smiles slightly as he delivers the last two lines. As he’s talking to the cameras of Netflix’s “Starting 5” series and discussing what he puts his body through, we’re being set up for the introduction to not just the next player in the series, but also the next episode. Yes, it’s a cliffhanger to get you to keep watching. It’s also a harbinger of what’s to come in the NBA.
After LeBron’s comments, we hear the roar of a Lamborghini SUV engine and see the vehicle backing out of a garage. “MINNEAPOLIS” flashes across the screen. We’re on a journey driving through the suburbs of Minneapolis into the city. We hear Anthony Edwards’ voice.
“I do not look up to anybody in the league right now. Not at all, yeah. Not in the slightest (stifled laughter).”
The song “Ooh La La” by Run The Jewels is playing underneath the scene as Edwards walks through the halls of the Target Center to get into the locker room.
“Yeah, I want to cook LeBron one-on-one. Who don’t? You say you don’t, you don’t want to compete.”
The series cuts to a close-up of Edwards in his own confessional-style shot. His name flashes across the screen for a casual Netflix observer who might not know who the 23-year-old is. He’s squinting into the camera, peering into the viewer’s eyes as if he’s trying to figure out if you know who or what you’re looking at. He gives his own subtle, almost sardonic smile to what LeBron just said in the previous scene, oblivious to James’ statement. It doesn’t matter what anybody says. He’s here to take it all.
This is where Edwards has the NBA currently: Looking at what’s coming down the pike of superstardom and who might be the next face of the league. As that topic gets volleyed around the NBA world, the eventual succession from LeBron, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant normally would have the NBA stressed to find that one person. Instead, the NBA has a crop of young players to cultivate.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in Oklahoma City. Luka Dončić in Los Angeles. Victor Wembanyama in San Antonio. Ja Morant in Memphis once was one of those options — and maybe still could be at some point. Nikola Jokić in Denver is 30 and a recluse by pro athlete standards, but he’s also the best player in the world and a champion. Jayson Tatum in Boston already has a ring for arguably the most storied franchise.
The NBA knows these guys are willing to snatch the torch long before the old guys are ready to give it up. But it’s not just enough to win or be the next popular guy. You have to want it. You have to connect with the masses on multiple levels. That’s where Edwards is separating himself.
In taking down LeBron James, Luka Dončić and the Lakers, Anthony Edwards not only showed his growth as a player but also demonstrated his maturity as a leader.
“Starting 5” was filmed last season and unveiled to us in October 2024. It followed five players, including James and Edwards, through the 2023-24 season. At the time, Edwards hadn’t done anything in the playoffs. His biggest team accomplishments were getting through two Play-In Tournaments. So, as Edwards is talking on camera about wanting to cook LeBron, he sounds like the young man who doesn’t know when to shut up.
As he proved in last year’s playoffs, the confidence doesn’t come from a place of arrogance or foolishness. Edwards led the Wolves to the conference finals for just the second time in the franchise’s history, 20 years after the first appearance. He was a toddler the first time it happened.
To get there, he took out his idol Durant in a sweep. Then the Wolves learned from their mistakes in the previous year by defeating Jokić and the Nuggets in seven games, rallying in dramatic fashion in Denver for the Game 7 win.
Two legends were taken out before the Wolves ran into the Western Conference buzzsaw that was Dončić, Kyrie Irving and the Dallas Mavericks. Durant and Jokić were two legends the Wolves were not supposed to take out, either. The Phoenix Suns had the Wolves’ number throughout the regular season, then all of a sudden, Edwards was talking trash to his idol and busting out brooms in the first round. Jokić and the Nuggets were the presumed champs of the West once again. Next thing you know, Edwards was telling Charles Barkley to “bring ya ass” to Minneapolis.
Fast-forward a year, and Edwards has done it again, this time with more verve, more trash-talking and more incredulity bestowed upon the viewing public. As Jon Krawczynski reminded everybody after Minnesota dismantled the Lakers in the first round of this year’s playoffs, the national punditry picked the Lakers to beat the Wolves. Hell, I did too.
The Wolves had finally figured their team out over the last month and a half of the season. Edwards was playing great basketball, as was Julius Randle. But they were a disaster in the clutch all year, and the Lakers were sporting LeBron (a crunchtime maestro) and Luka (a clutch legend and someone who knocked Edwards and the Wolves out of the playoffs a year ago).
Much like the Wolves from 2023 to 2024, though, they learned from their mistakes. It helped that the Lakers didn’t have any big men worthy of time on the court against them. The Wolves bullied them in both size and skill. Edwards led the charge and crossed two more legends off the list of people to knock out of the playoffs. What awaits him next might become the most fascinating challenge of all.
Jimmy Butler’s departure from Minnesota nearly seven years ago was flawed. It was bad. It was dramatic. And it was sort of amazing.
Butler is one of my favorite players to watch and one of my favorite personalities in the league. I like a trash-talker and a no-nonsense guy who dabbles in a little bit of nonsense.
An artist who listens to one of my podcasts once sent me three prints of some Butler art that I have displayed in my home. Occasionally, Minnesotan friends will catch it in an Instagram story or the background of a live stream and let me know they don’t approve. They’re Wolves fans and still hold some ill will toward Butler for how things ended when he forced his way out of town in late 2018.
Butler has changed teams multiple times since then. The Wolves have landed on their present and future star in Edwards, and everybody is all the happier for their respective outcomes. Butler couldn’t be happier with his current home with the Golden State Warriors and, more importantly, the two-year contract extension he got upon being traded there in February. The Wolves and their fans haven’t been this happy since Kevin Garnett was patrolling the Target Center back in the aughts.
There are similarities between Butler and Edwards in that they have big personalities, big mouths and big games. Butler’s veteran know-how and gamesmanship can frustrate to no end. Edwards’ unbridled enthusiasm, youthful exuberance and all-around destructive game on the court have removed a ceiling not just on his potential but on where the Wolves could go during his career. To eliminate Butler and his new squad would provide a level of catharsis while also more than seal the most successful stretch of basketball the franchise has ever seen.
But the Butler angle is more of a side mission. The main goal of the second round isn’t Butler or getting revenge on Draymond Green and his treatment of Rudy Gobert or the Wolves organization. The golden child himself, Curry, is another legend for Edwards to target in his quest to eliminate legends in front of him.
Edwards spent time with Curry during the Paris Olympics. They won a gold medal together. He watched Curry save Team USA against Serbia in the semifinals. He watched Curry hit France with the “nuit nuit” in the gold-medal game. All the while, Edwards had a secret developing. He was taking aspects from guys like Durant, Curry and Damian Lillard to fill the biggest hole in his game — his outside shot.
Through the first four seasons of his career, Edwards took 7.4 3-point attempts per game and made 35.3 percent of them. That’s roughly league average for accuracy. It’s not bad, but it’s not something opponents are terrified to concede to a super athlete creating highlight reels and shoe commercials from his dunk victims.
This season, Edwards had one of his best 3-point shooting seasons ever. He increased his attempts to 10.3 per game, and he was criticized often for taking so many. He made 39.5 percent, a career best. His 320 makes from distance were the seventh most in a season. Only Curry (five times) and James Harden have ever made more.
There is nothing humble about Edwards’ approach on the basketball court. He shares that with Curry. The baby-faced assassin is regarded as a role model and wholesome. His humility in his answers into a microphone is genuine, but there is nothing humble about his game and celebrations. Why should there be? If you could do what Curry does, would you ever stop letting people know about it?
Edwards is the same way. Up in a game, down in a game, it doesn’t matter: He’s going to talk and remind you that he’s there and is not going anywhere. It’ll be the same in this series.
Edwards isn’t just trying to prove himself to those who came before him. That’s something every young star attempts to do as they develop their stardom. He is in a race to the top in this era of parity.
If the Wolves do find a way to defeat the Warriors and get back to the conference finals, the historically dominant Oklahoma City Thunder or the resilient Nuggets will be waiting. Gilgeous-Alexander could be there to take his next step toward being a first-time champion, or Jokić will again be stalking the NBA Finals like Godzilla ambles toward a major metropolitan city with freshly created infrastructure.
This is where Edwards and the Wolves will hope to be underestimated yet again. It’s where they hope Edwards can match SGA or Jokić, or maybe even exceed them. It has to happen before Wembanyama starts to become fully realized down the road, basically as if SkyNet has actually created a 7-foot-5 Terminator who plays basketball. It has to bump up against Tatum trying to restore the balance of the NBA’s history by bringing consecutive championships back to normalcy. It has to happen before Luka gets a more well-rounded team in Lakers jerseys.
Edwards has a lot on his plate. Legends. Contemporaries. Past. Present. Future. And all the while, he’s letting everybody know about it, whether or not you believe in him or you’ve been converted. It doesn’t ultimately matter to Edwards, because before any and every moment, he’s just there staring at the person across from him. Be that you, me, a legend of the game or a peer in a foot race with him for the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
Engine idling, ready to roar. Eyes squinting, figuring things out. A head nod, a smile and he’s ready to talk some trash and get down to business. Whatever comes next.
(Illustration: Will Tullos / The Athletic; top photo: Harry How / Getty Images)
