LeBron sends strong warning for the next “face of the NBA”

It takes one to know one. LeBron James is and has been the face of the league for the last two decades, and now that his reign is coming to an end someone has to take the torch. Anthony Edwards is one of the favorites to be is predecessor, but he doesn’t want it and LeBron knows why.

ANT turns down the throne

Edwards is one of the most exciting players in the game and at just 23 years old he has all the tools to be the one of the greats. He’s already taken the Minnesota Timberwolves to the Western Conference Finals and been named to three All-Star Games after being taken with the 1st pick in the 2020 NBA Draft.

He’s got all the tools to be the next face of the league, but it seems like “Ant-Man” wants nothing to do with the label. “I’m capable of being that guy. But I don’t want to be that guy, put it like that.” Said Edwards to the NBA TV crew. “I want to be the guy to just show up and hoop and just kill dudes and go home.”

LeBron understands the sentiment. “The King” has put the NBA on his shoulders since he was drafted out of high school in 2003. He has won titles, MVPs, broken the All-Time scoring record and will go down as one of the greatest players in the history of the NBA. In that time he became the face of the generation, a role he has excepted, but one he knows comes with its fair share of burdens.

LeBron knows what it’s like

Being the greatest player of his generation has left him in the spotlight for the last two decades. Anything LeBron does or says is headline worthy news. Good or bad. He’s 40 years old, and mature enough and has seen enough to be able to handle what is said about him by people who are paid to talk about him and the NBA, but warned it’s not a very enviable position to be in.

“Why do you want to be the face of the league when all the people that cover our game and talk about our game on a day-to-day basis s**t on everybody?” asked James.

Obviously after 20 years in the game, James has been in the crosshairs of pundits, analysts and “experts” on TV. Most recently James came under fire for sitting out the All-Star game and waiting until hours before tip off to announce that he would not be playing.

Wemby the incumbent?

He has been singled out, however unfairly as it might be, for the All-Star game being the watered down product it is today. Narratives like “Kobe and MJ would have never let the All-Star game turn in to this” are direct shots at “The King” himself. James usually bites his tongue about the criticism, but this was his chance to sound off.

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There are a handful of players that are waiting in line to take the torch from LeBron and Steph Curry when they finally call it quits, but Edwards doesn’t seem like he’s to eager. Instead he has pointed to another budding star.

“That’s what they got Wemby for” said Edwards. Victory Wembanayama is in just his second year, and has already established himself as one of the faces of the future. Unfortunately, the Frenchman has been ruled out for the year after being diagnoses with a blood clot in his shoulder.