For the first time in three summers, Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards isn\u2019t playing internationally for Team USA. But that doesn\u2019t mean Edwards has been completely stateside the duration of his summer. <\/p>\n
Coming up on his itinerary this month is Edwards\u2019 first trip to China, as he, his agency and adidas, which markets Edwards\u2019 signature shoes, have arranged promotional appearances in three Chinese cities: Shanghai, Chengdu and Beijing. <\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think any of us know what to expect,\u201d Edwards\u2019 business manager Justin Holland said. He\u2019s definitely excited about going. Ever since we\u2019ve been making these trips, going to other countries with FIBA [two seasons ago], I think he\u2019s getting excited as we get ready to leave.\u201d<\/p>\n
The trip is set to last eight days, with time for excursions to the Great Wall of China and visits with panda bears between promotional appearances for Edwards\u2019 upcoming AE-2 shoe from adidas. Those appearances will include immersive basketball experiences for fans in what adidas is billing as the \u201cAnt Farm,\u201d some camp appearances and surprise appearances in those three cities as part of the \u201cBelieve That\u201d tour.<\/p>\n
Holland said Edwards is eager to see what the fan reception will be for him in China.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve seen the videos from James Harden, and we\u2019ve seen the videos when other athletes go over so he\u2019s anxious to see what the response will be with him going over there,\u201d Holland said. \u201cBecause we\u2019ve heard so much about how Chinese culture embraces the NBA.\u201d<\/p>\n
This trip to China has been in the works for Edwards and his team for over a year, as Holland, Edwards\u2019 agency WME and adidas have worked to position Edwards as one of the leaders in the next generation of global basketball icons. Holland said the same qualities that attract fans to Edwards in the U.S. and Minnesota are what draws fans to him overseas, and he said fans in China will likely be the same. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s his authenticity and also a larger part of how he plays the game,\u201d Holland said. \u201cWhen athletes play with the type of passion Ant plays with, that\u2019s something you can\u2019t fake. I think especially playing in Minnesota, people see that grit, that hunger and that passion when he gets on the court every night. It just shines through.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the first time in three summers, Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards isn\u2019t playing internationally for Team USA. But…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":99825,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":["post-99824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99824\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}