Tag: Kendrick Perkins

Former NBA players come to Kevin Durant’s defense against Kendrick Perkins

Ah, yes. NBA beef. My favorite.

The NBA is certainly a fraternity of some sort, because what a fraternity without some type of beef.

On Thursday night, Kendrick Perkins and Kevin Durant went at it on Twitter. Now Kendrick Perkins is receiving blowback from all sides of the NBA world.

If you missed the Perkins-Durant feud, the current ESPN analyst sparked a dialogue by saying that Russell Westbrook is unquestionably the best player to have worn a Thunder jersey. When Durant chimed in, Perkins ripped him for going to the Warriors in “the weakest move in NBA history,” and questioned the legitimacy of Durant’s two rings.

Gilbert Arenas came to Durant’s defense with an entire dissertation about why Durant was correct in leaving, why RINGZ culture is toxic and a whole bunch of typos. Yes, I read the entire thing. Yes, my eyes do hurt.

(Warning: These interactions contain some profanity)

Basketball’s OG Charles Oakley also came to Durant’s defense, telling Perkins not to be like his dreaded nemesis Charles Barkley.

Matt Barnes also came to Durant’s defense as well, saying that everyone was entitled to their opinion but no one can deny Durant’s greatness.

Perkins actually responded to this one! He chose the “well, he started it” defense (which, technically, isn’t true).

Somehow, Perkins is cooking up a lot of beef this season. I, for one, am enjoying it. Don’t know if it’s him being on TV or if he was always just like this.

Either way, keep this party going big guy.

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Jay Williams is fine with KD’s response: ‘Everyone can get the smoke’

Williams defended Durant’s response to Kendrick Perkins on ESPN’s Get Up Friday morning. KD and Perkins beefed on Twitter on Thursday night.

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There is at least one national media personality that is decidedly Team Kevin after last night’s beef between Durant and his former teammate, Kendrick Perkins.

Jay Williams of ESPN defended Durant jumping into a conversation about Russell Westbrook being the “best to ever put on an Oklahoma City Jersey” as well as being “Mr. Thunder”, which Williams said are actually two different things.

While Williams agrees that Westbrook is “Mr. Thunder”, he said there is no denying that Durant is one of the best to play the game.

And when it comes to Durant weighing in on the conversation, Williams said simply, “everyone can get the smoke”, adding “I don’t care of you’re Kendrick Perkins or Kenny 246, if you’re going to bring the heat.”

The situation started when Perkins said he was jumping on SportsCenter to talk about why Westbrook was the greatest in OKC history. Others suggested that the title might belong instead to Durant.

Perkins said that Durant “left that door open” when he left Oklahoma City for the Warriors, mentioning KD by name. Of course, that’s when Durant did what Durant does, and responded.

The two went back and forth, trading barbs, with Perkins eventually saying Durant took the “coward way out” by joining Golden State.

6 times Kevin Durant owned his critics on social media

Kevin Durant is officially not nice.

Kevin Durant is not nice. That’s an old tag line from a Nike campaign they were running for Durant during his Oklahoma City days. It was totally untrue and forced back then. He was, in fact, extremely nice — probably to a fault.

Today? Truer words have never been spoken.

Durant is straight up eviscerating fools on Twitter. Kendrick Perkins was his latest victim last night. There were plenty more before him — fans, players and media alike.

Durant is a phenomenal basketball player, but these days his best work is coming off the court. Let’s take a look back at some of the all-time roasts Durant has gifted us with.

(Warning: These interactions contain some profanity.)

6. That time KD defended his move to the Warriors in an Instagram DM

Someone took to Durant’s DM on Instagram to go at him for joining the Warriors. He bragged to him about how well he sleeps and then thoroughly broke down why it made sense for him to go to Golden State.

Let me tell you, he’s a more patient person than he gets credit for. Most of us would swiftly hit that block button.

5. Durant vs. CJ McCollum

Durant went at CJ McCollum on his own podcast one day and then came at him on Twitter the next. McCollum was on Twitter talking crazy about Durant’s decision to leave the Thunder for the Warriors after their loss in the Conference Finals.

Then KD swooped in. NOT. NICE.

“Snakes in the grass boy I tell ya” is still a wild quote. It’s accurate though.

4. Middle schoolers can get it too

He literally roasted a teen on Instagram for saying he wasn’t in the “same galaxy as LeBron.”

His response was to call him a “middle school stephen a.” Ruthless.

Honestly? You’ve got to respect this. This is the equivalent of blocking a kid’s shot that’s six inches shorter than you or whooping them by 50 in 2K. Let them know who is boss.

3. That time he went at Chris Broussard

Everything always seems to come back to the Warriors, doesn’t it?

Fox Sports’ Chris Broussard said Durant’s “worst nightmare” would be watching his Warriors teammates win a title without him. He also said that he and Durant have a “love/hate” relationship and that they’ve had text conversations that span over five hours.

Of course, KD wasn’t having it. He called him out on Twitter.

Broussard chose to respond by clarifying that their conversations haven’t been through text, but rather social media DM’s? That’s… a choice. He didn’t want to drop receipts, though. He called respect for Durant’s privacy.

2. KD doesn’t care about your stupid math

It’s basketball. Only buckets matter.

Durant found himself in a Twitter conversation with The Action Network’s Matt Moore. The heart of the conversation? The death of the midrange shot.

Durant believed that too many players were taking threes and not enough were taking shots they were comfortable with. Moore argued that the three point shot was better than a midrange two.

To prove that, he dropped a chart that detailed the value of the three point shot. Kevin Durant’s response?

This is like when someone sends you a 10 page text message that they know you won’t read. This is how you let them know you won’t read it.

Somebody tried to defend the use of the graph in their conversation — and the graph honestly did make sense. But to Durant’s point:

… Fair enough.

1. Kendrick Perkins has to retire from everything now

I know this just happened yesterday, but it was just SO MEAN.

Perkins called Russell Westbrook “Mr. Thunder” in his return to Oklahoma City, which is fine. He’s basically a lifer there. But he’s very clearly not the best player to ever wear the uniform — that’s Durant.

Yet, Perkins tried to make that argument. He then called Durant out for losing in the 2nd round of the playoffs without Westbrook.

KD called him out for… not being good at basketball.

He tried to have mercy, y’all. He tried to give Perkins an out. He really did.

BUT HE CAME BACK FOR MORE AND GOT BURNED AGAIN.

THAT’S JUST MEAN.

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Kevin Durant and Kendrick Perkins got into a very personal late-night Twitter fight

Kevin Durant and Kendrick Perkins traded some vicious shots.

Kevin Durant always enjoys mixing it up with fans, the media, and even other NBA players on Twitter, including sometimes even from various accounts.

That happened late Thursday night as he and former teammate Kendrick Perkins traded some very personals shots on the popular social media platform that was made for this kind of stuff.

Russell Westbrook made his return to Oklahoma City for the first time as a member of the Rockets on Thursday night and Perkins, who played with the Thunder from 2010-15, tweeted about how he thought Westbrook is the best player to ever play for OKC.

And away we went.

Here’s the whole battle:

Durant then closed things out with a few replies to fans who jumped in:

Perkins has always talked a lot for a guy who averaged just 5.4 points and 5.8 rebounds in his 15-year career. He did get in some good shots on Durant, but come on – a healthy Durant is the best player in the league and has been for a while.

But yeah, this was a very fun Twitter fight to watch unfold on a random Thursday night.

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Kevin Durant and Kendrick Perkins trade insults on Twitter

Former teammates Kevin Durant and Kendrick Perkins got into a Twitter fight on Thursday during a discussion about Russell Westbrook.

While fans in Oklahoma City were busy showing that they still love Russell Westbrook, some of his former teammates were busy proving that there’s no love lost between then.

It all started when former Thunder center, Kendrick Perkins, tweeted out that Westbrook was the best to ever wear an Oklahoma City jersey, calling him “Mr. Thunder”.

Perkins countered Celtics personality Mark D’Amico, who hinted at the fact that Kevin Durant might be worthy of the title Mr. Thunder.

It was the last tweet that drew the attention of the player in question, Kevin Durant himself.

Perkins didn’t mince words when it came to telling KD how he felt about Durant leaving OKC to join Golden State back in 2016.

Durant, at first, seemed to be bored with the entire conversation.

But he wasn’t content to leave it there, instead, lobbing one final insult at his former teammate.

Perkins got the last word (for now), essentially calling Durant a “coward” for joining a team that was 73-9 instead of staying in Oklahoma City and trying to win a championship with the Thunder.

Durant spent three seasons with the Warriors, winning back-to-back championships in 2016-17 and 2017-18 before rupturing his Achilles tendon in the 2019 NBA Finals. He then joined the Brooklyn Nets in free agency.

Perkins announced his retirement from the league in April 2019.

 

Kevin Durant gets in another Twitter battle, this time with an old teammate

Kendrick Perkins talked about two of his old OKC Thunder teammates on Thursday, one being Kevin Durant. The situation escalated quickly.

On Thursday, the Oklahoma City Thunder welcomed Russell Westbrook to Chesapeake Energy Arena for the first time since the franchise traded him to the Houston Rockets for Chris Paul and draft picks. It was an emotional return, and one that warranted discussion across the basketball world in the day leading up to the game.

Among those to discuss Westbrook’s return to OKC was his old teammate, Kendrick Perkins. Before explaining in further detail on ESPN, the ex-NBA center turned analyst revealed on Twitter he feels Westbrook “is the best player to have ever put on a[n] Oklahoma City Thunder Jersey.”

When Boston Celtics team reporter Marc D’Amico made the case there’s a different ex-Thunder player who deserves that title — now Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Durant — Perkins didn’t back down.

That’s when Durant — who recently got into it with Knicks supporters on Twitter — hopped in:

At first, Perkins admitted Durant was right.

Three minutes later, he decided to keep the fight going:

Perkins got one last remark in before Durant let everyone know this is a conversation about basketball, nothing more.

Kendrick Perkins says Lonzo Ball is a bust: ‘He’s not a superstar’

NBA champion Kendrick Perkins is out on Lonzo Ball as an NBA prospect.

A lot of people have opinions on Lonzo Ball. Thanks in no small part to his father, Ball has been one of the most polarizing players in the NBA since being drafted with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft.

While the hype around Ball has died down recently because of a combination of his injuries and underwhelming production, the conversation around him hasn’t stopped. In fact, it’s probably only gotten worse.

The latest person to share his thoughts on Ball was Kendrick Perkins, a retired NBA player best-known for his time with the Boston Celtics, who he won a championship with in 2008. In the most recent episode of ESPN’s “The Jump,” Perkins bluntly called Ball a bust:

“This is who he is. He’s not a superstar, he’s not a star. He was the No. 2 pick with high expectations from his father and everybody else and, to me, he’s a bust because this not No. 2 production. A No. 2 pick … this not what you draft with the No. 2 pick.

“You draft a guy No. 2 because he outlets and gives up the ball early? C’mon, man. We’re not doing that.”

When just looking at Ball’s raw stats, that’s not a very hard argument to make. For his career, Ball is averaging 10.1 points per game on 38% shooting from the field, including 32% from behind the arc, and 44.9% from the charity stripe. He’s also never played more than 60 games in a season.

However, Ball has also been one of the most impactful players of the 2017 NBA Draft class. Through his first three seasons in the NBA, Ball is posting a VORP of +2.6, which is ranked sixth in his draft class behind Jayson Tatum, John Collins, Jarrett Allen, Donovan Mitchell and Bam Adebayo. He’s also ranked in the top-10 in box plus-minus.

Would Ball be the No. 2 pick in a 2017 NBA re-draft? Definitely not, but there’s a good chance he’d still be a lottery pick, and there’s an even better chance that he’ll have a long NBA career because of the things he does do well like passing the ball and defending.

If that’s a bust, then so be it.

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Kendrick Perkins hilariously compared Grant Williams to Big Baby Davis

Perkins joined NBC Sports Boston on Wednesday to serve as a guest analyst during the broadcast as the Celtics played the Mavericks.

Grant Williams earned quite a comparison by Kendrick Perkins.

Perkins joined NBC Sports Boston on Wednesday to serve as a guest analyst during the broadcast as the Celtics picked up a 109-103 over the Dallas Mavericks.

Williams logged 24 minutes in the contest, recording seven points and two rebounds as he hit just his second 3-pointer of the season after missing his first 24 attempts.

His play earned praise from many watching the game as he was active defensively and made the hustle plays that coaches love. He often serves as a spark plug for the team off the bench, and Wednesday was no different.

Given the similarities in playing style, Perkins compared Williams to Glen “Big Baby” Davis, before he took an apparent shot at his former Celtics teammate.

Don’t let them little smiles fool you outside the court, Grant is a killer. He smiles and talking, he kinda reminds me of Big Baby without the six personalities.

Williams has become a fan favorite in Boston given his outgoing personality and ability on the court. He has played sporadically this season, though, averaging just 2.3 points and 2.2 rebounds in 23 appearances.

We’re definitely here for more games with Perkins on the call…

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