NBA All-Stars, including Anthony Edwards, elicit chuckles at news conference

Want to know how silly NBA All-Star Weekend can be?

Before we get into the (more) serious stuff, let’s start with dessert. The NBA’s signature event is a no-holds-barred opportunity to ask the league’s biggest stars some truly unhinged questions during their media availability Saturday ahead of Sunday’s game. 

Questions that would typically be considered shockingly inappropriate in any other context are fair game in this milieu. Here are some of the most chuckle-worthy things that came out of Saturday.

Anthony Edwards, who oozes charm and seemingly loved the odd-ball questions more than the basketball-related ones, was asked about a popular Instagram account (@nbaresdev) ranking him as the seventh hottest player of all time. 

His response?

“My mom and daddy did a pretty good job, but my old lady ain’t going to like that, though,” Edwards said. “She want me to suppress it. I be trying to hide it and be ugly for these folks. But they ain’t wrong, though. They probably got me a little low on that list, honestly.”

Edwards was also asked which All-Star he wouldn’t want his sister to date. 

“I’m going to go with JB,” he said of Boston’s Jaylen Brown. “He is from the city (Marietta, Georgia). He can’t date my sister.”

Then there was Kevin Durant, who was asked if he had to either give up X (formerly called Twitter) or video games, which one he’d choose. Durant, of course, is infamous for trolling his detractors on the social media app. 

“I’m going to go Twitter because they don’t deserve to hear this God-level talk I’m giving to them,” Durant said. 

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Meanwhile, Nikola Jokic was asked whether he’d rather win the MVP Award every year or have his horses win their races.

He picked his horses. 

Another highlight was when Luka Doncic was asked in front of Boban Marjanovic if the center was his favorite teammate. 

“Definitely not,” he said of Marjanovic, whom he played alongside on the Mavericks from 2019-2022.

Now that we’ve had our foray into the silly, here’s more relevant news. 

Victor Wembanyama said he wants to make the All-Star Game more competitive by making “exclamation-point plays, playing in a solid manner and sharing the ball with energy.”

Other NBA stars weren’t on the same page, including Edwards who balked at the idea that the U.S. versus World format could duplicate the intensity of the Olympic Games. “No,” he said. 

Durant, similarly, made it clear that he thought the intensity of Sunday’s game didn’t matter much. 

“I just feel like fans and media need something to complain about,” he said. “And the All-Star Game don’t make them feel like they felt when they were kids.”

Meanwhile, Brown made it clear that he’s in favor of a 1-on-1 competition to increase interest in the weekend. 

“Luka, Shai (Gilgeous-Alexander), (Jalen) Brunson, Donovan (Mitchell) — I would challenge all them guys, 1-on-1,” Brown said. “We could donate to whatever charity. Let’s set it up.”

As for Doncic, who has missed the Lakers’ last four games because of a hamstring injury, he intends to “play a little bit” on Sunday. He said he feels “pretty good,” though he added, “No, I will not try to dunk on LeBron.”

On the subject of James, who’s the only All-Star holding a news conference Sunday, Edwards acknowledged that whenever the superstar decides to retire, he “might cry a little bit.”

Wembanyama doesn’t think he’ll tear up when James hangs up his jersey, but the future face of the league said he’d love to pick the brain of the guy who’s held that title for the last two decades. 

“I’ve never had the chance to spend time with him, to have full discussion, but I would love to,” Wembanyama said. “I don’t know how many millions of basketball players are on Earth, and all of them can learn something from LeBron.”

Meanwhile, when Edwards was asked if his interest has increased in becoming the eventual face of the league, he didn’t hesitate. 

“Man, them folks got Wembanyama,” he said. “They got Wembanyama. They’ll be all right.”