Typically athletes have no trouble expressing their love for the sport they play. Often times they will wax nostalgically about hours spent on the court or some of the other steps along the way that helped get them to where they are.
Such does not seem to be the case with NBA prospect Anthony Edwards, who seems to have a more clinical perspective on his relation to the game of basketball.
While this will not likely have an adverse effect on his draft status ( he will at the absolute worse go no lower than No.4 overall), it will be a future fascinating case study , as this will undoubtedly be revisited when he encounters some sort of adversity in his career.
From Chris Bengel of cbssports.com:
Georgia standout Anthony Edwards is slated to be one of the top picks in Wednesday’s NBA Draft. However, just hours before potentially becoming the cornerstone of an NBA franchise, Edwards made some interesting comments regarding his love — or lack thereof — for the game of basketball.
During an interview with ESPN’s Alex Scarborough, Edwards revealed that he is “not really into” the sport.
“I’m still not really into it,” Edwards said. “I love basketball, yeah … basketball is my heart, but football is where I started, so I’ll never forget about that. But don’t get me wrong, basketball is my No. 1 because I feel like it’s going to get me through a lot of the stuff I need to get through.”
Edwards elaborated, saying that he feels as though basketball is more of an occupation than a love.
“It’s what I do. It’s a job,” Edwards added. “I feel like I’m working right now. I love it.”
Edwards’ trainer, Justin Holland, tried to clarify what Edwards meant by saying he isn’t a fan of watching basketball games like he is with football. And when it comes to football, Edwards believes that it gives athletes more of a freedom to celebrate on opponents.
“You can do anything on the field,” Edwards said of his love of football. “You can spike the ball. You can dance. You can do all type of disrespectful stuff.”
In the NBA, he said, “you can’t do any of that. You’ll get fined.”
Athletes are of course allowed to love more sports than one. There’s no rule against that. Cardinals QB Kyler Murray is a current example of someone who picked the NFL over a career in Major League Baseball. However, throughout his high school and college career, Edwards was not looked at as an NFL prospect.
Edwards claiming that basketball feels more like a job on the week he’s slated to be a very high draft pick is probably not the best look. Some mock drafts even are tabbing Edwards as the choice for the Minnesota Timberwolves with the No. 1 pick. If the Timberwolves are thinking of selecting Edwards at the top of the board, the franchise may be reevaluating that decision in the hours leading up to the NBA Draft.
