Kendrick Perkins apologizes for recent remark about Kyrie Irving on ESPN

When the NBA first announced the Board of Governors and the National Basketball Players Association had agreed upon the league’s proposal to continue the 2019-20 season in late July at Disney World, Kyrie Irving had reportedly expressed interest in going down to Florida as an inactive player. While ESPN analyst and for NBA center Kendrick Perkins is known to criticize the Brooklyn Nets point guard more than anyone else, he commended his former Cleveland Cavaliers teammate for his decision, indicating he was growing as a leader.

Then when later reports revealed Irving had a change of heart and he didn’t think the season should resume, Perkins went after Irving:

If you take Kyrie Irving’s and you put it in a brain right now, guess what that bird is gonna do? It’s gonna fly backwards.

.@kendrickperkins blasts Kyrie Irving's "lack of leadership." pic.twitter.com/0zjqJzzSbU

— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) June 17, 2020

Perkins later added more to the conversation on Twitter, which prompted both Kevin Durant and Wilson Chandler to fire back.

Durant called his old Oklahoma City Thunder teammate a “sell out” on Instagram, and Chandler replied to a tweet from Perkins:

If you got something to say, say it. Don’t [try] threatening us with gossip.

In the wake of this blowup, Perkins spoke to Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson on the Scoop B Radio podcast, explaining how he hasn’t sold out:

I’ve been the same person that I’ve been in the league. I’ve been outspoken, I’ve been a leader; I’ve been the same guy that you see on TV, I’ve been the same person that I’ve been in the NBA. So, at the end of the day guess what? If KD chooses not to be my friend, that’s on him. Because every other person that I befriended in the NBA, I’m still cool with to this day. I can still pick up the phone and call them.

In fact, in the wake of this battle on social media, Perkins reached out to Chandler to have a phone conversation. The retired big man says the Nets forward took him up on his offer:

Wilson Chandler said something towards my way on Twitter. I didn’t get into a Twitter beef with him. What it did was I DM’d him, and I gave him my telephone number. And I told him, “Ay man, we talk this out like real men.” He called me, we did. And guess what? I understood where he was coming from, he understood where I was coming from and we hung up the conversation in good grace. Straight up, just like that. Listen, one thing about me is, I ain’t duckin’ no phone conversations, I’m not duckin’ anything about it. But people do have to realize is that, I have a job. I work at ESPN, right? And I don’t come up with the topics. The topics are brought up to me. And I have to answer those topics to the best of my knowledge, and that’s what I do. You know what I’m sayin’? That’s what I do.

Perkins also admitted his bird-brain comment about Irving was not appropriate. However, he still feels Irving is ‘confused as a leader’:

Now was my bird statement a little out of character? Yes, it was; and guess what? I apologized to Kyrie Irving for that. Do I agree with him saying; that we all need to hold out? No, I don’t. I don’t agree with that because I need to know a plan behind it, you see what I’m sayin’? That’s all.