NBA ALL-STAR MEDIA DAY

February 15, 2025

Anthony Edwards

Kenny's Young Stars

Media Day Press Conference

Q. If the NBA were to bring back nickname jerseys, what would be on the back of yours?

ANTHONY EDWARDS: I don't know. "Ant Man."

Q. If you were the NBA Commissioner for a day, what would be one rule that you would change?

ANTHONY EDWARDS: That's a good question. One rule I would change if I was the Commissioner? The techs. I'd change the techs. Like I'd let people be more into the game.

Q. Do you consider yourself a top candidate to the next face of the league?

ANTHONY EDWARDS: No, not really.

Q. Why?

ANTHONY EDWARDS: That's what they got Wemby for.

Q. What did you think of the craziness leading up to the trade deadline? And specifically how it changed the Lakers and also talk about the Warriors with Jimmy Butler.

ANTHONY EDWARDS: I think it was interesting, man. It made it fun again because I think we play the Lakers again one more time, so it should be fun.

Q. I was just curious what you think of the new format of the All-Star Game this year. Do you think it'll be more competitive on Sunday?

ANTHONY EDWARDS: I don't really know too much about it.

Q. You came in with a Braves hat on. Why is it important for you to always represent Atlanta both in who you are and wardrobe-wise?

ANTHONY EDWARDS: It's just where I'm from, man. It's just a thing we wear, "A" hats, Braves hats all the time. It's something that I bring with me everywhere.

Q. Anthony, obviously Kevin is your favorite guy. What did you think about seeing his name involved?

ANTHONY EDWARDS: It was crazy, man. I seen some crazy stuff about Kevin Durant in the trade talks. That was crazy, yeah.

Q. Were you surprised by that?

ANTHONY EDWARDS: Yeah, I was super surprised. I didn't think Phoenix would be trying to trade him.

Q. Ant, if you could give your 12-year-old self one bit of advice, what would it be?

ANTHONY EDWARDS: 12 years old? I probably would -- I don't know. At 12, I probably would tell -- I didn't really start taking basketball serious until I was like 15, 16. I think at 12 the best advice I got from my uncles and stuff was don't put all your eggs into one basket. I think that was the main thing.

Q. Ant, talking about trades, after the trade of Karl-Anthony Towns kind of changed the chemistry and the DNA of your team, talk to us a little bit about that and how you bounce back?

ANTHONY EDWARDS: I don't really know what you want me to say. It happened. The trade, it's a part of business. They traded him, and it's been going fine. It's fun. We turned it around, so it's fun.

Q. We watched you hanging around with Justin Jefferson and talking about football, you were saying that you could be a very good football player. Tell us a little bit about more about that, your love for the game and if you saw yourself playing football, because you are a very good athlete?

ANTHONY EDWARDS: Yeah, I mean, all I could say to that, I felt like I would have been pretty good, yeah.

Q. How many baskets do you want to make tomorrow? [Question from a kid reporter]

ANTHONY EDWARDS: I don't know. I don't know, but I'll be wearing a bracelet. I don't know how many baskets I'm going to make, but hopefully the bracelet will give me some good luck.

Q. If you compared your game with some other player, who would be that player and why?

ANTHONY EDWARDS: I probably would say -- I don't know, man. I don't know. I know who y'all want me to say [laughter], so I ain't -- I don't know, nobody.

Q. Anthony, with the game was played today, do you think an ideal version of the game would look like how it's played now if it was up to you?

ANTHONY EDWARDS: What you mean?

Q. The way the game is played today, the spacing and all that, if you had an ideal version of the NBA going forward, would it look like the way the game is played today, or would it look a little bit different?

ANTHONY EDWARDS: More like back in the day or more like today? That's a good question. Yeah, I would say more like today, but less like numbers and -- it wouldn't be a lot of numbers and trying to figure out this shot better than that shot. It would be a lot less of that for sure.

Q. You say "less numbers." You just mean, just let guys hoop?

ANTHONY EDWARDS: Yeah, just let guys play. We don't care about the shot or what he's shooting. Just let him go out there and play.