With the likes of LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Steph Curry making early postseason exits, it’s never been more apparent that a new face of the NBA needs to be crowned.
Of the young players in the league currently atop the list is Anthony Edwards, who just got sent packing in the Western Conference Finals for the second year in a row.
However, during a recent debate on ESPN’s First Take, Kendrick Perkins stated that while Edwards possesses the core talent, marketability, and personality to hold that title, he may need to address his personal life first.
“You gotta be a role model, and things outside the lines matter. 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, Shaq, LeBron, Steph. What did they all have in common? While they was playing in the league they all were family men,” Perkins said 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.”
Edward does have a child with his girlfriend, but he’s also been caught up in several paternity suits, including alleged texts telling an Instagram model in 2023 to get an abortion and send him video proof of her ingesting the pill.
Then, earlier this year, it happened again after he was involved with Ayesha Howard—who also has a child with Lil Baby—when a paternity test revealed he’s the father of her daughter, Aubri Summer Howard. He then forfeited any parental or visitation rights and was more focused on determining a child support agreement.
Despite the drama in his personal life, Perkins realized he had been wrong in bringing it up in a basketball discussion and apologized.
“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,” he tweeted. “My bad young fella. I Was not taking a personal shot at you but I could see how it could have been taken that way.”
See social media’s reaction to Perkins’ blunder below.
