Kendrick Perkins thinks he's figured out Anthony Edwards' problem: He's not married

When a discussion about Anthony Edwards being crowned one of the best basketball players on the planet came up on ESPN's First Take Tuesday morning, Kendrick Perkins took a wrong turn and claimed that Edwards isn't a great role model because he's not married.

"You gotta check the boxes when you’re the face of the league," said Perkins. "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. 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, this is not something that I'm making up."

Not only is Perkins' claim wildly crazy, it's also not entirely accurate.

Larry Bird, for example, was married for less than a year in 1975. He didn't begin his college career at Indiana State until 1976. He then remarried in 1989, but that was 10 years into his career and after he had already won three MVP awards and multiple championships.

Stephen A. Smith quickly shifted the direction of conversation to avoid any further criticism of Edwards' off-the-court life. However, Smith did provide some basketball-related feedback for Edwards after Minnesota fell into a 3-1 series hole with a 128-126 loss to the Thunder on Monday.

"Are you the superstar player you proclaim to be or not? The fact of the matter is is that Ant-Man is special. We all know this. You saw how special Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was. That individual pride is what I was looking for. I don't want to hear something like 'I made the right play,'" Smith said.

"One would think that you would embrace the level of aggression that's needed in order to do all that you can do to ensure that your team does not lose. That's what SGA did," Smith continued."

He's not wrong. SGA, after OKC got rocked by 42 points in Game 3, responded by scoring 40 points to go along with nine rebounds and 10 assists on Edwards' home court.

"That's inexcusable as far as I'm concerned," Smith said. "Ant-Man is so much better than that. And the reason why the Minnesota Timberwolves are in this position to begin with is because he didn't just focus on doing the right thing. Sometimes you have to engage in hero ball. Sometimes you gotta be a little bit selfish. Sometimes you gotta go out there and display a level of aggression that might turn people off until you turn 'em on because you're a showstopper. That's what I was looking for from Ant-Man last night. I did not get it."

The ball is now in Edwards' court, though he'll have to dominate away from home — as an unmarried man — to get Stephen A. Smith and Perkins back on his side.

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