Anthony Edwards has steadily grown into one of the best players in the NBA over his five-year career. He’s led the Minnesota Timberwolves to back-to-back Western Conference Finals appearances and is considered a candidate to be the new face of the NBA.
His performance against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Finals has left much to be desired. Kendrick Perkins recently discussed why Edwards isn’t ready to be the league’s face. He’s since walked back on these comments.
Kendrick Perkins Publicly Walks Back Anthony Edwards Comments
Edwards was the first overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft and has spent his entire career with Minnesota. The 23-year-old phenom has improved each year and averaged a career-high 27.6 points per game this season.
His regular-season performance is probably worthy of the superstar label, but he had a bad night in Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals. Edwards posted 16 points on 13 shots, and had four rebounds, six assists, and five turnovers in the loss. Some, including Perkins, were quick to remove Edwards from the face of the league after the poor performance.
Perkins apologized for his recent comments on ESPN’s First Take, in which he said Edwards didn’t “check the boxes” to be the face-of-the-league conversation. Sports Illustrated’s Stephen Douglas broke down Perkins’ initial comments. The 2008 NBA champion said the face of the league needs to have a signature shoe, be in commercials, “have the highlights, and have the game.”
The analyst then went on to speak about how some of the league’s past faces, like Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Kobe Bryant, were all “family men” who were married with kids while playing in the NBA.
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On Wednesday, Perkins tweeted, “Anthony Edwards is one (of) 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 have been taken that way.”
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
Perkins mentioned greats like Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and Shaquille O’Neal as faces of the league who were role models and family men off the court. Sports Illustrated’s senior writer, Douglas, was unsure how the “family man” tag applied to a few of the names on Perkins’ list.
Douglas wrote, “Larry Bird was married and divorced by the time he was drafted by the Boston Celtics in 1978. He got married again in 1989 after he had already won all three of his NBA championships and three MVP awards. Magic Johnson did not get married until 1991 after his initial retirement. Shaquille O’Neal did not get married until December 2002, after he’d already won his first three titles and an MVP.”
