After a physical battle between Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards and Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James in Game 4 of their first-round Western Conference showdown — a 116-113 Timberwolves victory that gave Ant-Man's team a commanding 3-1 series lead — Edwards didn't mince words in the postgame conference.
"I'm not gonna say I was trying to make a point, but just letting him [LeBron James] know that we here," Edwards said. "You ain't just gonna push us around all night."
Edwards communicated to everyone in no uncertain terms, including LeBron, the media and executives around the league, that he does not need to prove who he is. More importantly, he emphasized for their benefit that he and the Wolves have already established themselves as a force to be reckoned with. While so many NBA players, young and old alike, feel compelled to define themselves in relation to King James and pay homage to the face of the league, Ant-Man feels no such pressure.
Instead, Edwards embraces self-definition, resisting the league's efforts to center LeBron into his 40s. By refusing to accept James' kingship, and the desire by powers that be to continue to promote him as the league's standard-bearer for capitalist purposes, the Wolves' young star poses a serious threat to the NBA's corporate norms and rigid hierarchical structures, evoking Mikhail Bakhtin's notion of carnivalesque action.
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Anthony Edwards is seizing the NBA's torch from LeBron James
While Edwards may never have read Bakhtin, he enacts it all the same. Given this, it was no surprise that he unapologetically asserted that he is the current best player in the NBA — and named New York Knicks big man Karl Anthony Towns as No. 2.
With players like Steph Curry and LeBron still playing, Ant-Man's independence shines in such a bold declaration. Few people consider Towns the second-best player in the league right now; he might not be the second-best player on his own team, if OG Anunoby is on a heater. But Edwards is never afraid to be candid. And that fearless declaration, among others, provides critical insights into how he's seizing the NBA's torch in a reimagined form, a form of his own making. While he respects LeBron, Edwards, through his uncompromising words and actions, wishes for the metaphorical fire in the torch to illuminate a deeper independence and authenticity he embodies.
While James' philanthropic work is laudable, and many appreciate his activism, he carries a torch given to him and designed by NBA executives. Capitalist ideology underpins that torch, necessitating the player holding it to employ words and engage in actions that cohere with its values and principles. Even though James occasionally makes statements and engages in some actions revealing a sense of independence, he never departs too far from the NBA's corporate interests.
Instead of betting on those interests, Ant-Man bets on himself and his teammates. Whereas King James holds the NBA torch for himself and the industry constantly fortifying his throne, Ant is engendering conditions that will liberate the one possessing the torch to operate outside of NBA executives' metaphorical box, a box that produces docile bodies. To his credit, Edwards will never consent to operate from within this box nor allow anyone to render his body docile.
Ant-Man can lead his team to a convincing series win in Game 5 on King James' home court. If Edwards and his teammates end the series on Wednesday night, Laker Nation will see that narrow window of opportunity for LeBron to make another playoff run become even narrower.
The NBA will soon have a new king, one not created in King James' image: Anthony Edwards, the future non-corporate king.