LeBron James Had Classy Message for Anthony Edwards After Wolves Star Wins All-Star MVP

The 2026 NBA All-Star Game was a delightful surprise as the players on the floor showed more effort than the last several years combined.

Victor Wembanyama, as promised, led the way by setting the tone early and the rest of the All-Stars followed. It was a tantalizing glimpse of the heights an All-Star Game can reach if everyone involved agrees to apply themselves just a bit and will hopefully set a new standard going forward. The fact that the game was received so well despite the last game of the night being a total flop speaks to the level of competition displayed in the first three contests preceding the championship round.

It was a great night filled with a lot of cool highlights. When the dust settled, Team Stars was the final team left standing after winning the final game, 47–21, over Team Stripes. Anthony Edwards, the 24-year-old Timberwolves superstar, was named All-Star Game MVP. The game itself may have undergone an overhaul in the recent past but winning the ASG MVP is still a big career accomplishment and Edwards was beaming when he received his new trophy.

After another accolade for the rising star, LeBron James gave a classy message to Edwards and expressed his excitement to watch Edwards’s career unfold.

“Love Ant Man,” James said after playing in his 22nd NBA All-Star Game. “Everyting about him. On the court, off the court. Happy for him. First of many All-Star MVPs for him. I love Ant. He got a fan in me and a friend in me for life.”

"I love Antman. Everything about him."@KingJames sounds off on @anthonyedwards following his @Kia All-Star MVP performance! pic.twitter.com/TiWvWsKTIN
— NBA (@NBA) February 16, 2026

James has always been generally supportive of the younger generation of hoopers, especially over the last few years as he moved into an elder statesman role for the NBA in his late 30s and early 40s. This is a particularly sincere endorsement, though. There is no doubting the admiration James has for the up-and-coming superstar.

Why LeBron James is ‘proud’ watching players like Anthony Edwards take the ‘next step’

James and Edwards clashed in the playoffs last spring, and the younger star proved victorious. Edwards led the Wolves to a five-game dismantling of James’s Lakers in the first round of the Western Conference playoff bracket. After the final whistle of Game 5 James told Edwards “It’s the next step now,” and later explained what he meant by that on his Mind The Game podcast.

“For me to just tell him to take the next step, it doesn't always mean, O.K., well, Western Conference finals, now you gotta be in the Finals,” James said. “It's like, take the next step. You as a person. You as a player. Continue to get better and better and better. Your time's going to come. I can't decide when that's going to be. Sometimes we have no control over when that next step [happens], as far as going to the Finals and winning. We [don't always] have the opportunity to do that. But we do have control over making the next step in our own individual journey.

“That's what it was about. I love seeing it. I loved seeing Jayson Tatum take that next step. Now I see Ant taking that next step. It's a proud feeling for me as a player who's been in the league for so long.”

Winning the All-Star MVP seems like another instance of Edwards taking the next step. And it’s clear from James’s comments on Sunday that he is still proud to watch the young hooper level up.

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