Anthony Edwards Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images
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There is no more argument about it: Anthony Edwards is the face of the NBA.

That title isn’t permanent. Victor Wembanyama and Cooper Flagg are trailing not far behind. But Edwards is the face of this league right now because he is unfathomably confident, a defiant, competitive freak. Edwards will also wear that crown because, despite hailing from the Far North, he exploded through the NBA media machine more perfectly than even Adam Silver could have hoped.

Drafted in 2020, Edwards wasn’t a lock to be great. The pandemic blew up his draft, and Minnesota was questioned for taking him at the top. They were, after all, the Timberwolves.

By his second season, Edwards took full advantage of the newly created Play-In Tournament. At age 21, he led Minnesota in scoring to beat the veteran Clippers in the single-elimination matchup. Ten of his 30 points came in the fourth quarter.

When the league created the extra postseason round, it was everything the league wanted: a young star getting an extra shot on national television to dazzle hoops fans. Anthony Edwards became the Ant-Man. If not quite a household name yet, it was a name known in a great many households.

As the Timberwolves shed their vets and embraced a youth movement, Edwards became an All-Star for the first time in 2023. Back then, the NBA was still broadcasting a playground-style draft of all the All-Stars live on TNT. With his first pick as the Western Conference captain, the great LeBron James selected Edwards.

Talk about a platform. The Atlanta kid filled it up in his first appearance with 12 points in 17 minutes.

If sports fans didn’t know Edwards before, they did now. This was the kid who shocked his way up draft boards, dazzled in the play-in, and got LeBron’s attention.

In his second postseason appearance, Edwards again averaged 27-plus points per game on 48 percent shooting. That included a 41-point Game 2 in Denver, but Minnesota lost in five games.

Still a ripe 22, Edwards was matched up with his idol Kevin Durant in the 2024 first round. The uber-confident Edwards couldn’t help but praise Durant in the lead-up to the series. It was a reminder that he was still a kid, but before long, he was the NBA’s King Tut—a boy king out for blood.

Edwards and the Timberwolves easily swept Durant’s Suns. In the next round, they won a shock road Game 7 in Denver to rally to the West Finals. Ahead of schedule, Edwards was on the big stage. NBA historians slobbered over themselves, comparing the ferocious two-guard to the great Michael Jordan. But Edwards and the Wolves ran out of steam in the conference finals, losing to Dallas in five games.

Minnesota and its young superstar had announced themselves as mainstays at the top of the league.

A month later, Edwards jetted off to Paris for the Olympics. If the 2024 squad was some descendant of the Dream Team, Edwards was an overqualified Christian Laettner. In how he played and handled himself, Edwards made it clear he thought himself one of the best on the team, regardless of age.

By the fall, Edwards was the star of two Netflix documentaries covering the world of basketball. While Starting 5 failed to break through, fans looked closely at Edwards’ off-court life and personality. Court of Gold charted Team USA’s gold medal journey in Paris, and Edwards went viral for his brotherly closeness with Durant and his suave run-in with Barack Obama.

If anyone benefited from the streamer’s first foray into hoops content, it was Edwards.

Around this time, Edwards also became infamous for unfortunate rumors about his relationships outside of basketball. Scenes from a previous era of sports tabloid fodder played out in real-time on modern social media apps as paternity and custody battles made their way through the courts.

It wasn’t covered in mainstream media, but the young fans who spend their days online undoubtedly saw the headlines. Edwards was becoming more famous for his feats on the court and infamous for salacious news cycles off it.

Now, here he is again, the talk of the NBA.

The season’s biggest story was the once-in-a-lifetime Luka Dončić selloff by the Dallas Mavericks. That move rejuvenated a plateauing Lakers team that is still the league’s marquee draw, giving James one last window to contend for a championship. Los Angeles earned the three-seed and had some prominent analysts eyeing them for a title.

Edwards shut the door. A more refined version of his game emerged. Edwards punctuated a five-game beatdown of the Lakers with 43 points in another statement win on the road in Game 4. It was the most-watched NBA first-round series in decades.

Oh—and that double pump dunk. Driving against Lakers center Jaxson Hayes, Edwards shot through the air like a bullet from the guns in Wanted and bent the ball through the rim with flare.

Postgame, Edwards wandered through the streets of downtown L.A., talking smack to anyone who would listen in a moment orchestrated to go viral online. It did, of course.

This is how it is supposed to work. Durant and James, two of the most popular NBA stars of the century, inadvertently introduced fans to Edwards by competing against them. It’s what Tom Brady did with Patrick Mahomes and what Larry Bird and Magic Johnson did with Michael Jordan. The kids get the rub of attention from the legends. The NBA opening night and Christmas schedules do this all the time. In this case, the standings propelled Edwards into a fortuitous position that he seized on.

By now, we know that the NBA faces a dire challenge of funneling social media hype over to TV viewership and attendance, the stuff that actually brings money to the league. Edwards is the kind of star, the kind of face, that represents the league on feeds and through algorithms. TV studio shows, and even podcasts don’t always talk about him the way they do with the team he just ousted.

But at the same time, the traditional NBA media machine has done a pretty damn good job minting him, too. From the league office to Bristol to Paris and back to the tiles of Netflix, Edwards is there anywhere that basketball is happening. His greatness puts him in the spotlight, but the forces of the league won’t let him leave it.

If you love this sport (and despite what ratings Cassandras might tell you, plenty of people still do), you have been made to at least have an opinion about Edwards. Whether he thrills you, puts you off, or just makes you want to tune in, there are most likely few basketball players you care about more.

That’s the kind of thing you say about the face of a league.

About Brendon Kleen

Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.

View all posts by Brendon Kleen