Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James has seen it all in his 22 seasons, including a new generation of stars beginning to take the wheel, one being Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards.
Playing two decades worth of basketball at the highest level, James competed against all walks of life in the NBA. This postseason featured a fresh matchup against Minnesota with Edwards beginning to solidify himself as a playoff riser.
The 23-year-old took out James and the Lakers in five games and after the series was over, the four-time champion pushed Edwards to that next step as a rising star, via HoopsMixOnly:
“Make that next step now. Come on”
LeBron to Ant
pic.twitter.com/ecvsTpDWOc
— Hoops (@HoopMixOnly) May 1, 2025
Edwards notably swept Kevin Durant and the Phoenix Suns in the first round last year and then beat Nikola Jokic and the defending champion Denver Nuggets en route to his first Western Conference Finals run. To be considered one of the best in the league though, he has to build off that. James knows that as anyone and he revealed what he meant when he spoke to Edwards after Game 5, via his “Mind the Game” podcast with Steve Nash:
:”I think that moment for me is understanding and recognizing the next generation. And someone who can do it and be great and be great for a long time in our league. I think that’s what our game is all about, is being able to pass it down to the next generation and they can continue to do great things. And for me, being out there in my 22nd season, playing against a young, up-and-coming superstar in the flesh in Anthony Edwards and watching him in the postseason last year, make those steps to get to the Western Conference Finals and fall short to Dallas and then have a full summer with him in the Olympic team and seeing how great he was, just listening and soaking in everything. From myself, to KD [Kevin Durant], to Steph [Curry], you could see, he was just like a little kid in a candy store. Like, super energetic and happy, he was just grateful that he was in that opportunity to be there. And for me to tell him to take that next step, it doesn’t always mean, ‘OK, well the Western Conference Finals and you got to be in the Finals.’ It’s like take the next step and just you as a person, you as a player, continue to get better, better and better. Your time is going to come, I can’t decide when that’s going to be. Sometimes we have no control over when that next step [is] as far as going to the Finals and winning. We’re not always have the opportunity to do that, but we do have control over making the next step in our own individual journey. That’s what it was about because I love seeing that, man. I love seeing Jayson Tatum take that next step, now I see Ant [Edwards] taking that next step. It’s a proud feeling for me as a player being in the league for so long.”
As James nears his eventual retirement, he has been a proponent of propping up the next generation so he can leave the NBA in great hands. While there presumably will not be another player like him, young stars like Edwards are capable of pushing basketball forward.
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