Is Ant-Man becoming the face of the NBA, why Wemby will be a Top 10 all-time player | THE FACILITY

Is Ant-Man becoming the face of the NBA, why Wemby will be a Top 10 all-time player | THE FACILITY

man. He did what he does. Now he’s got the Warriors against the ropes. Again, Rachel Nichols joining us. One of the most brilliant basketball minds over the last several decades. You could suggest in history. Rachel, asking you this question, and you can answer it probably better than anybody because you’ve been covering the sport uh for a for a very long time. Are we witnessing a become the face of the NBA? Look, it’s not that simple. And I was covering the sport when MJ retired all three times really, actually. So, especially when he retired the last time, we heard so much, right? Is it going to be Kobe or Iverson? No one could decide, right? There was a time where Grant Hill before all the injuries, people thought he was going to be the guy. They were scram Harold Miner, who who nobody out there probably remembers, was called Baby Jordan, that was his nickname. You don’t know until Well, there you go. Remember his name? What’s that name? Harold Miner. There you go. Uh, you don’t know until it happens. Yeah. Right. Aunt is definitely a candidate. I would say WBY you we haven’t even seen what We WBY is going to be yet. I think Victor Webbyama is going to be a top 10 player of all time. That is how confident I am. Again, injuries accepted, but but that is my my projection for him. So, if that happens, will he be the face of the league? I I mean, there’s just no way to tell yet. And what I also have a question for you guys, we live in such a media splintered world now. It’s not like it was when Jordan retired. There’s a million voices out there. There’s a million opinions. Is there going to be a face of the league in this modern era? I don’t know. What do you guys think? That’s a really good question. Uh I’m not convinced. One because of how saturated media is right now just in general, right? We you have every different app. You have every different streaming service. You also have television. For a though, he’s got to win a chip just to start this conversation. Absolutely. In my mind, you got to win a chip just in order to enter the dialogue. Now, truth be told, I do not know that anybody’s going to be the face, Ant-Man particular, until Steph Curry’s gone, until LeBron James is gone. We like to stick with the current faces until they retire. Once they retire, and if you’ve checked all of the necessary criteria, then he can be the face. But it’s going to take a championship. It’s going to take more than a playoff run, two playoff runs, it’s going to take a championship. But the good thing about Ant25 is at least he’s checking off the boxes. He’s checking off the boxes. He has the game. He’s got the swag. Inner city, they got to want to be you. The CEOs, they got to want to promote you. And he’s checking off all of the necessary boxes. Remember, after he beat the Lakers, he’s walking around downtown LA interacting with the fans. Like, that’s the stuff that you have to be willing to do. That’s the stuff you got to be able and capable to do. Checking off the boxes. But he got to win a chip. This easy one for me. Yes. Yes, he is. The first thing you say is you got to win a championship. That’s no argument can start if you don’t win a championship. But all I say this man, I I don’t think that a foreign player can be the face of the NBA because as an American American sport, you got to relate to them. When their season’s over with, they don’t stay here, they leave. Luca, he’s out of there. Jokic, three MVPs, he ain’t the face. He gets out of here after the season. Ant-Man is here. Culturally, everybody wants to be Ant-Man. If you I don’t know how many kids y’all got or or nephews and whatever, take them to the store and say, “What sneaker you want?” Yeah. Yeah. They going to jump there and get Ant-Mans. Okay. You talk about the swagger making everybody want to watch the NBA. Why would you want to watch NBA for what? Because they shooting threes. When you watch him, he’s shooting threes. He dunking on you. He’s got the competitive nature. He going headtohead with LeBron James. People love that. You talk about viewership. Jason Tatum is a phenomenal player. One of the best resumes as a young player can have. He can’t be the face of the NBA. No. Because he doesn’t have that Ant-Man. He don’t have not stay on the dog, but he don’t have that type of swagger. His interviews ain’t going to make you laugh. Ain’t going to make you chuckle. Airman’s giving you that. Airman makes everybody want to watch the NBA. And you talk about having to look. Y’all see commercials. He on all the commercials. It’s only gonna get better. He’s still young. All I’m saying is when you a young kid, cuz the young generation is what really runs the sport, right? That’s ones that mom, we got to watch the game or let’s go get this. When you watch Ant-Man, every little kid, I don’t know what hood y’all go to or neighborhoods, they all screaming Ant-Man. And it’s the way he plays the game and it’s the way he acts off the court. He’s definitely the face of this league. Yeah. Julius Randle had a great quote after the game last night. He said, “At is the brightest star in the room. He just has that it factor.” So the guys who play with him know it. There’s no doubt. Also, by the way, he already had a great nickname, Ant-Man. He has got a better one now in this playoffs. King Slayer. The King. I like that. Right. Took down LeBron James before last season. He took took down Kevin Durant, etc., etc. So, I I love it. That’s great. And by the way, you guys talking about fit in the last segment. Sometimes it depends on what sneaker company you’re with. Adidas is killing it with the Ant ads. They’re so good. That’s half the reason people are so excited about them. Is it more dependent upon what Aunt does or what LeBron doesn’t do or what Steph doesn’t do in the sense of like Ant could win a chip this year. He’s still not the face of LeBron’s around. Ant could win a chip the next two years. He’s still not the face of LeBron’s around. Ant could not win a chip, but let LeBron and Steph suddenly retire. Now we are beckoning and we’re desperate for a face. Is it more dependent upon what a does in your mind or is it more dependent upon what the WBY does, what the LeBron doesn’t do, etc. What’s more dependent on be who’s the face? Well, Shad’s totally right until those guys leave the field. Oh, you heard you heard that now. Now you said it and everybody I see him say, you remember you said I was always right. You want me to say it again? I’ll say it again. All right, here we go. Shady was totally right. That’s the goal. Come on now. Until Steph and LeBron leave the league there. There’s not room for another guy to take their place because you were talking about years of equity that they’ve built up. However, once they do leave, it is going to be a little bit of a battle and I think a foreign player could end up being the face of the league depending on some of the qualifications, right? So, WBY in particular, first of all, he’s a catchy nickname, right? That makes a difference. The way he looks, right? It’s just so fasc you you cannot take your eyes off him when he is playing. The arms go around everything. And you know, swatting shots, Hakee Elijah, right? Tebe Matumbbo made a living off that kind of stuff. He’s going to do all of that stuff. I think it progresses. There was a long time when we couldn’t imagine a foreign player getting drafted number one overall. Then there’s now there’s been a ton of them. There was a long time we couldn’t imagine a foreign player being MVP. The last I think five MVPs have been foreign. And by the way, the two guys who are in the running this year are both foreign. Neither one of them was born in America. So I think the sport expands. And I think if the guy doesn’t feel foreign in a way that some of these guys do, I think that make a difference. What about this though? Because like one thing I think in not even just American sports, but this sports in general, we compete. Yeah. So when Olympic comes around, right, the face of our league is going against us. Think of how that even sounds. Oh, Fran France almost won. But but but think about that last couple Olympics. The face of the NBA of the best players in the world and it’s American sport. when we go against friends versus America, the face of our league is playing against America. That’s interesting. That’s they don’t even fit right. And another thing is always think about like can we can you relate to the player, right? I don’t know if if if kids in America can relate to Wimby. He’s 7’8. That’s a great play, right? And it’s like we can relate to Ant-Man. You turn Antman on, you can see Ant-Man in any neighborhood in America. Any neighborhood. Chicago. We talked about the the Chicago, Philadelphia, LA. You can see Ant-Man down the street. Is that Ant-Man? No, that’s not. But you know what I’m saying? You can’t find Wimpy everywhere. Yeah. You know, and then the last part is the swagger. It it’s it’s it’s something to be like a great thing now where where you can be like you could be like that culture type of swagger and in real corporations, right? Yeah. Like now even on t on prime time TV, you look around there, right? You you got the corporate guys, but then you got some of the guys that got a little swagger that makes the show go. You know what I’m saying? And when I look at being a face of the NBA with all these different personalities and people from different places in the world, can I relate to him? And when you turn LeBron James on, you can relate to him. Steph Curry, everybody can relate to Steph Curry, even the mailman. You get what I’m saying? Now, Ant-Man is that same guy in rotation. I just think that when LeBron leaves and and and Steph leaves, the hands and the NBA is going to be in great hands with Ant-Man. Can I do it again? Can I do it again real quick? Camera, Shadyy’s right. Come on now. Come on now. That’s a great point. And by the way, remember with the Michael Jordan, be like Mike. If Mike can be like Mike. All right, go ahead. I stick my tongue out. You know what I mean? Big conversation with my MJ just to slap the glass. Just to slap. What up, YouTube family? Welcome to the facility. Thanks for watching and you better be sure to hit that subscribe button if you want to get more highlights from the show and all of our exclusive content.

Rachel Nichols stops by The Facility to discuss whether the basketball world is witnessing Anthony Edwards becoming the face of the NBA or not. She also explains why Victor Wembanyama will be a Top 10 player of all time at the end of his career. Emmanuel Acho and LeSean McCoy chime in.

#TheFacility #NBA #AnthonyEdwards

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