Anthony Edwards could be the next bright and young superstar in the NBA. However, that can’t happen unless the Minnesota Timberwolves guard/forward learns to clean up his persona for the entire world. The spotlight is shining brightly on Edwards as a future star in the league, but his recent homophobic comments on an Instagram story have shown that the 21-year-old has a lot of growing up to do.
The homophobia spouted by Edwards caught many people in the league by surprise. The Timberwolves organization had to issue a statement after Edwards’ comments quickly went viral on social media. Edwards issued an apology, but it wasn’t enough to help him avoid negative comments from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar over the matter.
The NBA was forced to step in after the public outcry and decided on punishing Edwards with a $40,000 fine. This seemed like a reasonable fine for a multi-millionaire, but Denver Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon didn’t like the fact that Ant was fined and decided to tweet out a bunch of downward facing thumbs, a tweet he quickly deleted.
— Dom2K 🎅🎇 (@Dom_2k) September 20, 2022
Players Need To Be Careful With What They Say
Aaron Gordon deleted his tweet for the same reason Anthony Edwards needs to be careful with his public persona. Both players cannot afford to be slaughtered in the court of public opinion over human issues, as it may affect their earning potential through endorsements and deals.
Homophobia has been entrenched in sports for years, but it was extremely disappointing for everyone to see a young player like Edwards perpetuate the stereotypes associated with the community.
NBA players have a platform that is bigger than they realize. Every time they comment on anything that is outside basketball, they have to ensure they are well informed about what they are saying. If they can’t make responsible public statements, this will be a situation they’ll fall into more than just once in their careers.
