Anthony Edwards Reminds Us That Some NBA Stars Are Just Teenage Millionaires — with Much to Learn
How the №1 Draft Pick epitomizes a lovable, inconsistent, and ultra-talented 19-year-old’s potential to grow up off the court
I love basketball. But I also love working with young people. I mean that literally. For ten years, I was a public high school teacher serving schools in Louisiana, Massachusetts and my home-state, California, as an English Language Arts teacher.
I spent every waking minute for the entirety of my decade as a 20-year-old as a Teach For America graduate working with teens in need across the country. Thousands of them. Kids that were often brilliant and creative and inspiring; others who were loud and dismissive; and even more were simply quiet, uncertain, and still searching for themselves.
Every once in awhile, I’d encounter a superstar kid. One who had that extra luminous shine about them, who I knew was on a path towards something great — whether it be sports, entertainment, or some other noble profession with less fame-appeal, but equally — if not more — useful to our society. (I taught at Lutcher High School when Jarvis Landry was the star wide receiver of the football team, and I’ve worked at the Oakland School for the Arts, where artists like Kehlani and Zendaya attended.)
I don’t mean to imply that Edwards is just a regular kid dealing with ordinary amounts of pressure. He isn’t. He’s a professional athlete undergoing unthinkable levels of rigor, expectation, and regimented training that I’ll never know in my own line of work.
My point is that I know teenagers better than the average millennial. So when I turn on my TV and watch a 19-year-old phenom like Anthony Edwards playing in an NBA game, I can’t help but see him as the goofy and joyous teenager that he, despite being the Minnesota Timberwolves’ №1 Draft Pick in 2020, is.
I don’t mean to imply that Edwards is just a regular kid dealing with ordinary amounts of pressure. He isn’t. He’s a professional…