In the din of playoff-crazy Ball Arena in Denver, when Nikola Jokić was dealing and Jamal Murray was gunning and the Minnesota Timberwolves were gasping for air and in need of some sort of reassurance, Justin Holland knew exactly how to get Anthony Edwards’ attention.
“C’mon 5,” Holland would tell his longtime friend. “Let’s go 5.”
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The words would cut through the roaring crowd, rise above any sharp-tongued heckler and land right in Edwards’ ears. It didn’t matter if the Nuggets were starting their title run, the Target Center crowd was howling after one of his step-back 3s or a 10-year-old was giving him the business in Memphis, Edwards invariably would hear his business manager.
“He’ll turn around and he’ll see me,” Holland said. “That’s one of those things that people who are near and dear to him, they all know that.”
It did not matter to Edwards that he has worn No. 1 on his chest for all three years of his NBA career with the Timberwolves. It did not matter that the moniker “A1 From Day 1” became the kind of catchy identifier that marketers dream of attaching to a client. It did not matter that he has earned a legion of followers in Minnesota and beyond for his exploits in that Wolves jersey.
In his heart and in his mind, he has always been No. 5. The connection to that number started early, when there was no chain around his neck, when the Lamborghini he drives now was only a dream and when the family that raised him was still whole.
Now as he prepares to enter his fourth season with the Timberwolves, Edwards thinks that fans who have grown to love him in his new home are finally going to get to see the real him. Edwards is finally changing his jersey number, from the 1 that accompanied his rise to face of the franchise status in Minnesota to the 5 that made him as a kid in Atlanta.
“A1 From Day 1 was given to me,” Edwards told The Athletic’s Shams Charania. “That wasn’t something I created. … I’ve always been No. 5.”
JUST IN: Minnesota Timberwolves All-Star Anthony Edwards is changing his jersey number to No. 5.
“Whole different player” – Sitdown at @Stadium on decision to change from No. 1 to 5, goals for next season, aiming to push Karl-Anthony Towns to MVP-type year and more: pic.twitter.com/N9QR07FCbs
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 1, 2023
Edwards officially announced the change on Tuesday, the latest move in a major summer that is aimed at catapulting him from the promising early stages of his pro career into the superstar stratosphere. He was named to Team USA, which will compete at the FIBA World Cup at the end of this month. He signed a five-year extension that could be worth $260 million. And now he will wear the jersey number that he has always wanted.
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The above grouping is not one of those SAT questions that asks: “Which one of these does not belong?” Not to Edwards. Five is more than just a digit on a jersey to him. It represents a part of him that got him here. It also serves as a remembrance of, and a tribute to, what he has lost along the way.
Edwards lost his mother, Yvette, and his grandmother Shirley to cancer in the same year, when he was just 14. One of the reasons he wears No. 5, it has been reported, is that both died on the fifth of the month. Anthony’s birthday? Aug. 5.
“He’s playing for his family,” Holland said. “It’s a family number.”
Edwards has never opened up about the tragedy or how it affected him since he came to the NBA, but those close to him know he carries those two women with him wherever he goes. Aside from losing to the Nuggets in the playoffs, the smile rarely leaves Edwards’ face. Teammates and coaches are drawn to his fun-loving demeanor, which belies all the heartache and turmoil he suffered as a child.
The scars may not be visible, but those closest to him know the cuts still run deep.
“For sure,” his brother, Bubba, said. “It definitely had an effect, but with basketball, we just loved it growing up. It’s really a getaway. It’s a way to cope and be free, just clear your mind and find some love.”
When the subject is brought up now, Edwards typically deflects. Maybe at 21, he is not ready to speak openly about such trauma. Maybe he is just a private person and does not feel obligated to share. Or maybe he is not looking for pity or comfort. He has a tight circle around him and gets all the support he needs from his family and friends. When he shows up for work, the goal is joy and success, for him and a Timberwolves franchise that has made back-to-back playoff appearances for the first time since 2004.
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It is clear that wearing No. 5 again brings him a great deal of joy. Even with the No. 1 jersey being such a popular sight at Target Center over the last two seasons (there were no fans allowed during Edwards’ rookie season), he always made it clear where his allegiance remained. He wears a chain with an AE5 medallion around his neck. His business pursuits with Holland are grouped under AE5 Enterprises. His grassroots basketball program with Adidas is called AE5 Basketball. It was only a matter of time that the jersey matched.
“I wanted to do it after my first year, I couldn’t do it,” he said. “I wanted to do it after my second year, I couldn’t do it. We were just waiting for the right time.”
When Edwards was drafted in 2020, No. 5 was already taken by Malik Beasley. Edwards pressed his new teammate to give it up, but he never could convince Beasley to do it. By the time Beasley was traded to Utah last summer, it was too late for Edwards to request a jersey change with the league for the 2022-23 season. Veteran Kyle Anderson was signed last summer and took 5, which he wore in college at UCLA. Ironically, Anderson wore No. 1 in his first two NBA stops, in San Antonio and Memphis. He will wear No. 1 again for the Timberwolves next season.
Edwards wore 5 while playing AAU as a kid, at Holy Spirit Preparatory School on the northern edge of Atlanta for high school and in his lone season in college at Georgia. Now that he will wear it in the NBA, he sees it as a way to link his new fans who have only gotten to know him since he arrived in Minnesota with those who have backed him since he was a youth basketball star back home.
“When he had all his greatest accomplishments that actually helped him make it to the NBA, that’s the number he wore before anybody knew him,” Holland said.
That is the story Edwards is thinking about right now. He made a name for himself wearing No. 5. He converted from a kid who loved football into one of the best basketball prospects in the country in 5. And now 5 is going to be what helps him turn that final corner in the league. It’s been a very impressive first three seasons in the NBA for Edwards, who has piled up dunks, 3-pointers, highlights and charmed an entire city along the way.
But he still plays for a team that has been out of the first round of the playoffs once in more than three decades of existence. And yes, he made the All-Star team last season, but it was as an injury replacement. There is so much left for him to do, both with the team and as an individual. If he makes another leap and helps take the Timberwolves to another level, it will only be fitting if he does it wearing 5.
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Edwards had a wide smile when asked what will be different about him next season with the new jersey number. He said fans will see “a whole different player.”
“A lot of athleticism. A lot more dunks,” Edwards said. “A different level of play because I got my number on my back now.”
Holland chuckled when he heard Edwards say that. He has known Edwards since he was in ninth grade, trained him for years before transitioning to his role as business manager. The last thing anyone would say about Edwards is that he needs more confidence when he’s on the court. But Holland thinks that is just what is going to happen now.
“I would always challenge him to dunk on people more because I know he’s capable of it,” Holland said. “He’s hungry. But when you put that No. 5 on him, that hunger that he had from Day 1, that hunger that got him to where he is now, it’s just going to add to where he already is.”
In his comments after he signed his contract extension and again now after switching jerseys, Edwards has consistently deflected the focus to teammates. He said his priorities this season are to get Rudy Gobert back in the conversation for NBA Defensive Player of the Year, Karl-Anthony Towns in the running for MVP and Jaden McDaniels recognized as one of the best two-way players in the game. If all of that comes together, he sees an opportunity to avoid the disappointment that came with a 4-1 loss to the Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs.
In Edwards’ eyes, the Timberwolves have taken enough of those lumps. Maybe they were necessary learning experiences at the start of his career. Enough with that. Those lumps were taken by a player who wasn’t fully formed. With another year under his belt, and his number on his back, the ascendance of Anthony Edwards continues.
(Photos of Anthony Edwards: AAron Ontiveroz, David Berding/Getty Images; Illustration by Sean Reilly / The Athletic)
