Debate over the "face" of the NBA has been a running theme of the 2024–25 season. As LeBron James and Stephen Curry age out of place, many around the league have thrown out their ideas about who will take their place... though much of the discussion has centered on why specific basketball stars aren't right for that unofficial title.
Many of the league's best players, like Luka Doncic, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic, can't be the face of the NBA because they're not American, some, including Stephen A. Smith, say. Others argue against young American stars for other reasons, with ESPN's Kendrick Perkins making one of the more bizarre cases yet against Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards.
"Now, if you go down the list of all the faces of the league in the history of the game, you look at Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, [Shaquille O'Neal], LeBron [James], Steph [Curry]. What did they all have in common? While they was playing in the league they all were family men," Perkins said on First Take Tuesday. "They all were married. With kids. And if you think that don't play a role as far as the role model. This is facts."
Perkins drew plenty of criticism for the strange argument, and on Wednesday offered a public apology to the Timberwolves star, saying he did not mean it as a personal dig.
Anthony Edwards is one my favorite players in the League if not my favorite player. I apologized privately so I’m apologizing publicly to the young 👑 for my comments on First Take yesterday. My bad young fella. I Was not taking a personal shot at you but I could see how it could…
— Kendrick Perkins (@KendrickPerkins) May 28, 2025
Putting aside the fact that it is pretty easy to call into question in the "family man" bona fides of a number of the former NBA stars that Perkins listed, using that as an argument against Edwards misses the mark.
Edwards is just 23 years old, an he's already taken his place as the cornerstone of a franchise that has gone from frequent irrelevance to back-to-back conference finals appearances. Edwards will probably need to break through to win an NBA title in order to really cement a case for the throne, but it almost certainly won't matter whether he has a wife and kids if he's able to break through and bring the Larry O'Brien Trophy to the Twin Cities.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Kendrick Perkins Issues Apology to Anthony Edwards Over Bizarre 'Family Man' Take.
