Thankfully, they were happy to go in as partners and they’ve been phenomenal in the relationship. They’ve helped with my foundation, helped with my basketball camp as well as my golf tournament.

— LW: LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry are out of the NBA playoffs as the conference semifinals are going on. Are we seeing a passing of the torch in the league?

— GW: Yeah, it’s kind of funny. The same way that Brandon Miller says Paul George is his favorite player, I’ll be excited to see, in 10 years, when someone says Anthony Edwards is the best player they’ve seen play. I think it is a passing of the torch. It’s not that (James, Durant and Curry) aren’t capable, but I just think that this next generation is prepared to step into the limelight of the league, carry the torch and move on.

Those guys can still make an impact — Steph, Bron, KD — no matter what team they’re on, but this next youthful generation really has a chance to do special things this year and in the years to come.

— LW: Speaking of Anthony Edwards, how big a deal is it for a guy like him to be playing so well and really expanding his brand as the NBA is negotiating a new TV deal?

— GW: It’s cool to see. Players are supportive of one another. Last year they were talking about how the Rudy Gobert trade was the worst in NBA history (the Jazz traded Gobert to Minnesota and got five players and five first-round draft picks).

And then you have the juggernaut in Boston running through everybody, and you have young talented teams like (Oklahoma City) who are prepared for years to come with the (multiple) draft picks they own.

— LW: Would you like to see the NBA go back to NBC and be on network over-the-air TV again, or would you miss it being on TNT with the Inside The NBA crew (Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson)?

— GW: I would definitely miss those (TNT) guys. It would be tough to not have TNT. I hope there’s a way to partner, but it’s a matter of who gives up the most money to chase the rights. It would be sad (to lose TNT) but I do miss the old jingle from NBC. That was tough. When I was young, I was watching those games (on NBC).

— LW: How did you get involved with the NBPA, the National Basketball Players Association (Williams, now the First Vice President, was named to the board of directors in June 2023).

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