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Anthony Edwards Comments To Jalen Johnson At The All-Star Game sparked speculation among Hawks fans.

Would Anthony Edwards ever come back to his home state and play for the Hawks?
Jackson Caudell|
Feb 15, 2026; Inglewood, California, USA; Team USA Stars guard Anthony Edwards (5) of the Minnesota Timberwolves reacts in game four during the 75th NBA All Star Game at Intuit Dome. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Feb 15, 2026; Inglewood, California, USA; Team USA Stars guard Anthony Edwards (5) of the Minnesota Timberwolves reacts in game four during the 75th NBA All Star Game at Intuit Dome. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

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Atlanta Hawks

Last night, Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards won the NBA All-Star Game MVP in what was one of the best All-Star Games in recent memory. After the game, he appeared to make some comments to Hawks forward Jalen Johnson that certainly caught the attention of nearly every Hawks fan on social media.

After the game, Edwards approached Johnson and appeared to say "I can’t wait to come home", among other things.

The alleged comments from Edwards caused a lot of speculation among Hawks fans on social media:

Was Edwards saying this tongue in cheek or just as conversation? Possibly. Would it ever be possible for the Hawks to actually acquire Edwards? It does not seem so, unless Edwards got fed up in Minnesota and was ready to have a change of scenery, but he still has three years on his deal after this season. Things can change quickly in the NBA, but he has single handily brought the Timberwolves in relevance in the NBA with back-to-back conference finals appearances and is one of the 10 best players in the NBA.

I would say to not make much of this, but never say never.

Edwards would be a dream Hawks target

Anthony Edwards NB
Feb 15, 2026; Inglewood, California, USA; Team USA Stars guard Anthony Edwards (5) of the Minnesota Timberwolves celebrates with the MVP trophy after the championship game during the 75th NBA All Star Game at Intuit Dome. Mandatory Credit: William Liang-Imagn Images | William Liang-Imagn Images

Edwards would be the dream trade target for the Hawks if he ever asked out, or the Hawks could be looking ahead to when he is a free agent in the summer of 2029. He is from the city and played his college basketball at the University of Georgia, and would be beloved in the city instantly.

When talking about his moves at the trade deadline a couple of weeks ago, Atlanta GM Onsi Saleh mentioned that his team was not ready for a big splash type of move and that Atlanta was continuing to build for the future:

"When you guys see around the league, like, I think when I came here, almost two years ago, we were at a deficit. Not only that, but also just tools, like the trade exception that we got was really important. That's going to carry over to this, the next year's deadline as well. So we felt that that was critical on what we're trying to do, just getting more tools to be able to build. And, like, that's really where we're at right now.

We're developmental, we're building towards something that's sustainable here. We just aren't in a place to go and trade, you know, three first -round picks, two first-round picks to try and figure this out now. We're not at that face. I'm really excited about our group. I feel like we've been competitive, and just a huge kudos to Quinn. He's been a rock star given, you know, we've given them basically, what, four or five iterations of this team already this season and where we played 53 games.

It's pretty remarkable the job he's done to both like develop our players and these guys are having career years to where we're at now and we're still being competitive in a you know a game under 500 with a bunch of new players so we're trying to figure this out still and but we do feel really good about the group that we have we feel like they're it's a competitive group we also felt like we um we helped our group for this season and the future."

At some point, Saleh and the Hawks are going to be ready to chase a big splash and cash their assets in. Will it be Edwards at some point in the future? Maybe, but that is just pure speculation right now.

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Jackson Caudell
JACKSON CAUDELL

Jackson Caudell has been covering Georgia Tech Athletics For On SI since March 2022 and the Atlanta Hawks for On SI since October 2023. Jackson is also the co-host of the Bleav in Georgia Tech podcast and he loves to bring thoughtful analysis and comprehensive coverage to everything that he does. Find him on X @jacksoncaudell

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