Last weekend, Anthony Edwards played in the first All-Star game of his career. Ant was a reserve, so he played 17 minutes, while some of the more established stars and All-Star starters played more minutes. Still, Edwards got plenty of opportunities to showcase what he could do in one of the most-watched (albeit least meaningful) games of the season. Ant made six of his eight shots, including four dunks, one of which was an alley-oop from Jaylen Brown.
Possibly the most interesting part of the night for Ant, though, happened during the All-Star team draft. Giannis Antetokounmpo and LeBron James took turns selecting players, starting with the reserves, then moving to the starters, with Giannis getting the first pick. Damian Lillard was the first reserve Giannis selected, partially because he was one of the best players he could select. However, Giannis smiled and pointed straight at LeBron after the selection, because Dame is LeBron’s friend, and Giannis clearly wanted to mess with LeBron’s team.
Regardless of the shenanigans, LeBron selected Edwards with his first pick of the reserves. It was a huge compliment to Ant. He was the second name off the board for the reserves ahead of more established stars like Brown, DeMar DeRozan, and Paul George. Furthermore, he was only behind one of the best clutch shooters in NBA history.
I don’t want to overreact to this selection too much. It’s not like LeBron was metaphorically passed the torch or explicitly said, I think this kid’s next up. He didn’t even say something like, I think he’s better than the other players I didn’t select. Still, there’s a reason he picked Ant instead of an established superstar like Jaylen Brown.
Not only is LeBron arguably the greatest basketball player of all time, but he’s also one of the most media and public relations savvy athletes. LeBron has been famous since he was in high school, and has more experience in front of cameras than most celebrities and athletes. His status as the modern GOAT and the NBA’s unofficial player ambassador has given his words and actions a gravity with the general public and commissioner Adam Silver that is unmatched by other NBA players. As a result, most of the things he does in front of a camera or says on social media are highly calculated and have intention behind them.
While there are many examples of this throughout the history of his career, we need to look no further than a few weeks ago to find a good example. Things came down to the wire in the Los Angeles Lakers’ January 28th game against the Boston Celtics, and LeBron took a last-second shot at the buzzer that could have won him the game. However, Jayson Tatum fouled LeBron mid-shot, but the refs missed the call and the game went into overtime. LeBron reacted by briefly yelling at the refs before kneeling down on the hardwood in anger and agony.
LeBron’s actions weren’t that abnormal on the surface. Basketball is a hard sport to officiate. Refs miss calls all the time, and fouls are often debatable. Furthermore, physicality is officiated differently depending on which refs are officiating a game and which players are in the game. Most players complain about calls that are missed all the time to no avail. Ant constantly gets fouled when driving to the rim, and yet refs repeatedly miss it, while calling tacky fouls on Wolves defenders on the other end.
Still, many people saw LeBron’s influence after his dramatic reaction. The media attention surrounding the event forced Adam Silver to address the call, and specify how NBA refs are held accountable for their mistakes. LeBron even received an official apology from the NBA referee association’s Twitter page, an honor no one else gets. They said the mistake was “gut-wrenching” and will cause “sleepless nights.”
Suppose we can agree that almost everything LeBron does in front of a camera has a massive impact on the league and often seems to have an intention behind it. Then could there be an extra intention behind his choice to pick Edwards first?
The most likely explanation is simple. Ant has played great this year, and LeBron picked him first because he thought he was the best player in the group of reserves. Ant has averaged 24.9 points per game this season on good efficiency for high volume, shooting a career high 36.4% from three, and 52.4% inside the arc. He’s also a legitimate two-way star. Edwards has shown an ability to lock down some of the league’s best players when it counts the most, while averaging 1.6 steals and 0.6 blocks. Ant is also leading the league in minutes played, has put the Wolves on his back in Karl-Anthony Towns absence, and is the main reason they remain one game over .500 and in the eighth seed.
Still, another factor that could have contributed to the selection is based in sports politics. LeBron and Ant are represented by the same agency, Klutch Sports Group. Klutch’s founder Rich Paul has represented LeBron since he entered the NBA, and they have a close relationship. Paul and James have used their influence to benefit each other as business partners many times. Paul’s success as LeBron’s agent, and LeBron’s networking ability, has helped Paul amass a long list of successful clients and become one of the most powerful sports agents in North America. LeBron has helped Klutch so much that the NBA investigated whether or not LeBron had an ownership stake in Klutch and was profiting from his favors. (Players are not allowed to have ownership in agencies.)
While the investigation found that LeBron had no stake, there’s nothing saying he can’t do a favor for his old friend out of the goodness of his heart, especially when Paul has done so much for him, too. Paul has represented many of LeBron’s teammates and friends, and Klutch was alleged to have put pressure on the Lakers front office to trade for Russell Westbrook, which LeBron and Anthony Davis (also a Klutch client) were vocally pushing for at the time.
Perhaps Paul, seeing that Edwards isn’t getting the national attention that most players of his caliber do, asked King James to help him boost the stock of his rising star client by picking him in the All-Star Game. While we can be confident that the Wolves are going to offer Ant a max contract with or without Klutch, sports agencies help players secure sponsorships in addition to contracts. It’s possible that the extra publicity Edwards garnered during All-Star weekend could help him secure more sponsorships. In turn, that would benefit Klutch, which presumably takes a commission from the money they negotiate for Edwards.
While there would be no way to prove this Klutchspiracy, I don’t think it’s that unlikely. After all, putting a little extra spotlight on Ant in a casual way would be a small favor to ask of LeBron, considering how closely they’ve worked together in the past. Either way, it’s cool to see LeBron honor Ant’s fantastic season, and breakout on a national level, by selecting him first amongst the All-Star reserves.
