NBA's Anthony Edwards: A Lot of People Lose Sight of Why They Got 'Fame or Money'

Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards says a piece of advice that has helped guide him is to keep focused on the reason he is in the NBA.

"Keep the main thing the main thing," Edwards told Lane Florsheim of the Wall Street Journal. "A lot of people get somewhere and lose sight of the reason they got all this fame or money. I just want to keep getting better at basketball."

Edwards recently celebrated his first Olympic gold medal win as part of the USA Men's National Team at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The Timberwolves star came off the bench in the Aug. 10 final against France, contributing eight points on 3-of-7 shooting to help Team USA top the tournament for the fifth straight Games.

The 23-year-old's first trip to the Olympics came one year after he signed a five-year rookie max contract estimated to be worth up to $260 million.

That kicks in this fall, when Edwards is slated to cost the Timberwolves almost a third of their cap with a $42.2 million salary that will make him one of the top 25 highest-paid players in the league.

Edwards is coming off of his second consecutive All-Star season after averaging a career-high 25.9 points and 5.1 assists through 79 games in 2023-24. He upped those averages to 27.6 points and 6.5 assists through 16 playoff games on the Wolves' way to the conference finals.

The 2020 first overall pick said after his team was eliminated in May by the Dallas Mavericks that he and his teammates hadn't trained hard enough for a deep playoff run, and would be approaching the 2024 offseason in a different way.

It sounds like Edwards is planning on staying focused on that goal despite the distraction of his first Olympics as the October start to NBA practices draws closer.