Anthony Edwards’ Business Team Is ‘Prepared for This Moment’

From the slums in the Philippines to the streets of his native Atlanta, there are kids all over the world who aspire to be like Anthony Edwards.

The Minnesota Timberwolves guard with the vicious dunks and the engaging personality has become one of the NBA’s biggest stars. But that’s not enough for Edwards. He’s looking for stardom off the court that young hoopers can take note from and apply to their own playing careers.

“We don’t want to just be an athlete,” business manager Justin Holland said in an interview. “We want to show the next generation how to come in the game and build a business around your brand. If we can do that, everything will be trending in the right direction for our youth.”

Most high-profile athletes begin crafting their enterprises later in the careers, but Edwards isn’t waiting. At the age of 22, the two-time All Star has already begun building his business empire with his personal ventures and brand deals living under his parent company, AE Five Enterprises. His success on the court—with an opportunity to lift the T-Wolves to their first Finals appearance—positions his business team to capitalize right now. 

“We’ve been prepared for this moment the entire time,” said Holland, a 37-year-old former basketball player at Liberty University who met Edwards when he was a 14-year-old youth football standout in Atlanta and helped him transition as his first basketball trainer. “People think he’s ascending so fast, but it feels a lot different internally, because we know how much work we’ve been putting in behind the scenes for everything moving forward.”

Edwards, who left Klutch Sports for WME Sports last year, looks to leverage the resources and connections at the Hollywood talent agency to not only boost his marketing profile but also leave an impact in the world of film and music. Edwards had a scene-stealing role alongside Adam Sandler in Netflix’s Hustle and has his own media and production studio, Three Fifths Media.

Founded in 2019 by Holland and Edwards, the upstart company has already helped produce documentaries and short films, including Showtime’s Get Yours and Ain’t Doing Enough. It has additional credits with Bleacher Report (2019 Huncho Day Recap) and ESPN (Andscape’s Anthony Edwards picks UGA over Kentucky short film) with planned projects with Netflix and Amazon in the works.

“We’re really on the goal line for this media company to be something that we can hang our hat on and leave our legacy with,” Holland added.

WME, which also represents T-Wolves head coach Chris Finch and minority owner Alex Rodriguez, is working in tandem with Holland and others in his camp to develop Three Fifths Media into an entertainment powerhouse. For example, Edwards will collaborate with Kawhi Leonard’s music venture Culture Jam as an executive producer on an album that will include Edwards’ brother, rapper BDifferent.  

Edwards has an opportunity to be one of the first athlete clients to take full advantage of the extensive flywheel at WME that expands across sports, media and fashion.     

“When it comes to his business, we don’t want to just do the norm,” WME’s NBA agent Stephanie Mejia said in an interview. “We want to separate him from what has been done… The vision is not to replicate but make it his own.”

This means letting the former No. 1 draft pick dictate the strategic and creative direction of his off-the-court initiatives in a way that feels true to him. This includes his ongoing investment in community affairs and grassroots basketball, which Edwards, raised by a single mother, views as an important after-school outlet for young hoopers.

Holland is his go-to person on all things AE Five Enterprises and runs point on most business-related conversations. He often presents Edwards with potential deals and opportunities, which Edwards will decline or accept.

Edwards is trying make use of expertise from his circle of confidants from his early days in Atlanta and combining it with the cross-platform capabilities of WME.

“We’re trying to touch every category,” Holland said.

Peyton Manning in Indianapolis and the young LeBron James in Cleveland notwithstanding, there’s still a notion that playing in smaller media markets can hinder exposure and deter brands from wanting to ink major marketing deals. Edwards, along with Oklahoma City guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, is showing that may no longer be the case in today’s social media era.

“If you look at some of these larger markets, sometimes there’s so much going on that it’s not [like Minnesota], where a whole state is behind Anthony and the Timberwolves,” Mejia said. “I think it’s helped, to be honest.”

Edwards, who has brand deals that include Sprite, Fanatics and Bose, will continue to add more sponsorship deals to his portfolio, according to Holland. His business team can be picky when brand partnership offers come in. Chipotle, for example, made Edwards its first and only pro basketball player partner.

Edwards also continues to be one of the hottest players on the Adidas basketball roster. His signature shoe (AE 1 Low) remains a top seller. The sales were no doubt helped by his non-NBA pursuits. A year after Hustle came out, Edwards starred for Team USA in the 2023 FIBA World Cup, winning gold in Manila last summer and generating international exposure.

“They actually just broke ground on an Anthony Edwards court in the Philippines,” Holland said. “You really don’t realize how big you are until you go on the other side of the world and people know your name.”

The Adidas partnership, which includes sponsoring his Atlanta-based AAU team (AE5) through the footwear giant’s 355B grassroots program, will gain more global traction when Edwards heads overseas this summer for the Summer Olympic Games in Paris.

Edwards will call Kevin Durant a teammate in Paris after the T-Wolves eliminated the Phoenix Suns in the playoffs. It was an epic battle between one of the game’s longtime stars and potentially the next face of the league. Edwards, who calls KD his favorite player, is building a multifaceted enterprise similar to what Durant has done with family office 35 Ventures.

AE Five Enterprises, which includes Edwards’ community initiative Don’t Follow The Wave, remains in its infancy, but the goal is to follow in the footsteps of Durant and James’ SpringHill Company. Like James, who helped produce the Black Ice documentary focused on Black hockey players, Edwards wants to tell untold stories through his company that resonate with Black and other diverse communities.

Both James and Durant have become prominent investors in startups and various consumer brands during their NBA careers. Holland said he and Edwards have been doing their due diligence and educating themselves in private equity and venture capital. But there’s no rush, especially with Edwards still being so young and on his first max contract.

“That’s something you ease your way into, and [we’ll] put together a gameplan throughout his career,” he said.

In the meantime, Edwards is focused on taking care of business on the court while his team handles everything from brand partnership meetings to production calls with studios—all while carving out his vision of creating a unique legacy off the court.