Timberwolves' Anthony Edwards Reacts to Playoff Series vs Lakers' LeBron James

The Los Angeles Lakers and Minnesota Timberwolves will begin their first round playoff matchup at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday night in Crypto.com Arena.

Sporting a 50-32 overall record, the Lakers finished as the Western Conference's No. 3 seed. At 49-33, the Timberwolves finished just a game worse, but in the crowded West, Minnesota wrapped up its 2024-25 season run as the No. 6 seed. Los Angeles will have home-court advantage in the series, meaning a Game 7 would be played in Tinseltown if it gets that far.

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All-NBA Timberwolves shooting guard Anthony Edwards recently weighed in on his upcoming playoff series against 21-time Lakers All-Star power forward LeBron James, his teammate on the gold medal-winning U.S. men's basketball team during the 2024 Paris Olympics, per Jon Krawcyznski of The Athletic.

Ant on playing LeBron in the playoffs: "It means a lot to matchup against him, man. Probably goes down as the greatest player to ever play basketball. Trying to get putting him out of the playoffs under my belt is going to be a tough one, but it’s going to be a fun road."
— Jon Krawczynski (@JonKrawczynski) April 16, 2025

"It means a lot to match up against him, man," Edwards said. "Probably goes down as the greatest player to ever play basketball. Trying to get putting him out of the playoffs under my belt is going to be a tough one, but it’s going to be a fun road."

Edwards, 23, has led Minnesota to four straight playoff runs after an extended drought post-Jimmy Butler. Last year, the Timberwolves advanced beyond the first round for the first time in Edwards' tenure. Minnesota made the Western Conference Finals for the first time in 20 years, where it fell to the Dallas Mavericks in five games.

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Now, the best player from that Dallas team, five-time All-NBA First Team guard Luka Doncic, will square off against Edwards again, this time from a new zip code.

James is no longer the best player on his own team, although there's no shame in that for a 40-year-old playing in his record-tying 22nd NBA season. He's still an All-NBA-level talent, and seems likely to make this year's Second or Third Team.

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Edwards, meanwhile, seems to be in line for his second straight All-NBA honor. He's going to be the Lakers' biggest defensive headache, as by far his team's best two-way talent.

Across 79 healthy contests this regular season, the 6-foot-4 Georgia product posted averages of 27.6 points on .447/.395/.837 shooting splits, 5.7 rebounds, and 4.5 assists a night.

Edwards and James forged a strong connection at the Summer Games.

This angle of LeBron James throwing it up to Anthony Edwards for the slam 🤯

(Via @NBCSports) #USABMNT #Olympics #PARIS2024

pic.twitter.com/F4nbfEnKdc
— CourtSideMedia (@courtsideheat01) August 3, 2024

Now, they'll face off in the playoffs for the first time. The world will be watching.

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