On Wednesday, Anthony Edwards and longtime friend Nick Maddox hosted the first annual Believe That Awards. Maddox explained at the start of the show that this award show would not be a typical award show; instead, it would be presented in a barber shop or living room style.
The show had a wide-ranging set of award categories, including White Boy of the Year, Hidden Gem, Reporter of the Year, Woman of the Year, They Got Next, Hater of the Year, Artist of the Year, Sneaker of the Year, and a Legacy Award for Mara Wilson, who played the title character in Ant’s favorite movie, Matilda.
Let’s dive into who came out as winners and losers from the award show.
Winner: White Boys
Timothée Chalamet took home the first award of the night for White Boy of the Year. As a fellow white boy, Chalamet is the perfect representative for our category. “Timmy Chimmy,” as he’s come to be known by only John Green, is the perfect encapsulation of what all of us white boys are striving to be.
Not only has Chalamet had an incredible stretch of recent films, including a portrayal of Minnesota’s own Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown which garnered him his second Oscar nomination for Best Actor, but he’s arrived as one of the premier celebrity fans of the New York Knicks, who, like the Minnesota Timberwolves, made it to the conference finals with Chalamet attending every game, both home and road.
Chalamet closed out his acceptance speech by thanking all the trailblazing white boys who came before him.
“I just got to shout out all the white boys that laid the path before me.”
Loser: The Haters
A player of Edwards’ caliber is always going to gather a lot of haters. It comes with the territory, and one of the processes of being a superstar in the NBA is learning how to deal with those haters. This year, the nominees for Hater of the Year were Noah Lyles, Skip Bayless, Charles Barkley, and Magic Johnson.
Despite the loaded category, none of the haters stood out enough to be given the award outright, as the voters for the Believe That Awards decided to have the four nominees split the award, as not one of the haters truly stood out from one another.
It’s a tough blow for all the haters out there who desperately crave the attention that would have come with winning an award outright. Despite trying their best, none of the haters could stand out enough to win the award. Now they all have to share the award, which, like a toddler, is their worst nightmare.
Loser: Jon Krawczynski
Despite being the only Minnesota journalist who received a nomination, Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic did not win the award for Reporter of the Year. It’s a tough blow for someone like Krawczynski, who is constantly searching for external validation as the second most famous person with his own name.
The winner of the award instead was Shams Charania of ESPN and Krawczynski’s former teammate at The Athletic. The two had previously worked together on many projects, including the story of the deteriorating relationship between Alex Rodriguez, Marc Lore, and Glen Taylor as Taylor tried to back out of the Timberwolves sale.
On X, Krawczynski posted he was just honored to be nominated for Reporter of the Year and is motivated to go after White Boy of the Year in 2026. Only time will tell if he can turn those dreams into reality.
Winner: The AE 1s
The last award of the night was for Sneaker of the Year. Not surprisingly, all four nominations went to the AE 1. The winner went to the all-gold AE 1s, which were released after Edwards and Team USA won Gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
We will see which sneaker can win the award next year, but with the AE 2 releasing this year, it’s plainly obvious who the favorite already is.