Perkins popped for comments regarding ex-teammate

I really like perk. He is smart and knows the game of basketball but sometimes he goes too far.
( more on that later)

https://ftw.usatoday.com/2022/12/serge-ibaka-age-kendrick-perkins-beef

During an ESPN broadcast, former NBA center Kendrick Perkins made a tasteless joke at the expense of Milwaukee Bucks big man Serge Ibaka.
Perkins was discussing his time in Oklahoma City with Ibaka and other former teammates Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden. He noted how each player was either 23 years or younger before the 2011-12 campaign.
He then alleged that Ibaka was “probably 30 at the time” because “certain individuals lie” about their age.

"Kevin Durant is only 23, Westbrook is only 22, Harden is 22, Serge Ibaka is 21, although he was probably 30 at the time because we know how certain individuals lie about their age."

This was not the first time, however, Ibaka has confronted such claims. During his free agency period in 2017, Ibaka rebuked ugly stereotypes about Africans with a heartfelt social media statement.

Here is part of what he said at the time:
“I’m sad that to this day there are still prejudices based on your origin and, as Africans, sometimes we need to take a stand.
I was born in the capital of the Republic of Congo, Brazzaville. A city with a population bigger than 1 million. A city with hospitals, a civil registry and an administration. I was born in a caring, loving and united family. I was not born in the jungle.”

Perkins’ gross comments reinforced these unfounded allegations and now, five and a half years later, the NBA veteran had to confront this once again.
He tweeted that it was especially “disappointing” for someone that he shared a locker room with for so long (they appeared on the court together for more than 6,000 minutes while in Oklahoma City) to spread “misinformation” for the sake of maintaining relevancy.


It quickly turned into a venting session from Serge on Perk's "leadership" during their days with Oklahoma City.

The big man said that he works very hard to maintain his status in the league and was disappointed but not surprised that Perkins said what he did. Ibaka then accused Perkins of “breaking the locker room code” and “spreading lies” about both Durant and Westbrook.
He also added that Perkins was “not a locker room leader” when he played professional basketball and that he does not handle the responsibilities of his current job with class or dignity.


Ibaka added that he would have no problem with Perkins for criticizing his game or on-court performance, but that those comments in particular were “unfounded” and “disrespectful” both to him and to

PERKINS:

“Did you say spreading lies at @sergeibaka ? Please don’t get me started homie!!!! Please don’t. I’m not about to talk about those OKC days and what you were doing in that locker room. I will not… but you definitely need to stop because you know I KNOW!!!! Carry on tho…”



Perkins responded to Ibaka, telling him to stop being so sensitive and that he was joking. He also apologized but he then cryptically alluded to undisclosed decisions that Ibaka made while on the Thunder.
There are very few confirmed cases of age fraud in recent NBA history and it is sad to see Perkins continue to spread misinformation about Ibaka and then try to pass it off as nothing more than a harmless joke.
USA TODAY

Thoughts:

Perkins has been given and has taken a huge window to say what’s on his mind.
The industry that plucked him out of nowhere is the same industry that will demote to a fan in a heartbeat.
I’m pretty certain that Perk has been given the green light to call players out and to make bold and wild statements. Some make a lot of sense and some are obviously put out there to create controversy and get reactions from both sides.
I admire the progress that he’s made in the broadcast industry and I hope that he takes it and uses it to his advantage.
He’s smart enough to know that he’s being used. I also think he knows that and doesn’t care.
I Don’t know what other talents Perk may have. I hope he does because when the flame turns to a flicker they’ll drop  him like a bad habit.

My unsolicited advice to him is to be honest and continue to say what’s on his mind but also be prudent about it.
Stop making things up to get a reaction. As I said it’s obvious when he does it.
This Ibaka thing, is a bit over the top and Perk is wrong for that.
Perk doesn’t care what anyone thinks but if he keeps going places like this he may live to regret it.
Perk has the arena and the balls in his court. He needs to make the best of it before it gets the best of him.

Ktron, you speak with great wisdom.

I really haven’t taken Perk seriously since he said we should break up the J’s that they have proven they can’t play together. Then he backtracked saying he was right at the time, but now the J’s are proving they can play together. Really Perk, you wanted it both ways? He’s not as dumb a Scalabrine, but not the brightest bulb out there either.

cowens/oldschool wrote:I really haven’t taken Perk seriously since he said we should break up the J’s that they have proven they can’t play together. Then he backtracked saying he was right at the time, but now the J’s are proving they can play together. Really Perk, you wanted it both ways? He’s not as dumb a Scalabrine, but not the brightest bulb out there either.

Perk puts out a number of outrageous takes but its more so to get a reaction. I don’t like it because one not familiar with him would not only take it serious but as you implied, question his intelligence.

Personally I don't think Perk is anywhere close to being dumb. He’s playing the game to get paid and remain relevant.
The problem with the outrageousness of some of his opinions is that he’s alienating himself from a number of peers and after awhile most fans aren’t going to take him serious and begin to tune away. We all know what follows that.
He can be funny and witty and still be appealing without all the nonsense but I honestly think he doesn't care what anyone thinks of him. Thats fine but it can also become problematic. I wish for his sake that he’ll dial it back a bit.

worcester wrote:Ktron, you speak with great wisdom.

Thanks Worcester.
I’m curious, do you think Perkins is a little over the top?

I have to laugh. Last year and even the beginning of this year, he was all for trading Jaylen. when that silly trade stuff came up about Durant, he was the first one who said go for it. Last week
he claimed JB was his "guy" and he always like him and wanted him here, I almost choked. We all heard his words, we all heard him with his trade rumors. This kind of stuff makes me not want to listen to most of what he has to say. He is around less and less, frankly I enjoy Eddie much more. Perk has a way of getting under your skin

"Let me explain something to you, Stephen A,"...

quite possibly my favor line of all time! Perk's good.

db

Eddie House in my opinion is very good. Naturally witty and knows what he’s talking about. I’d like to see more of him on a bigger scale.

However, My intuition tells me that at best he’ll end up more like a Kenny Smith.
Thats not a knock on him or Smith and not a bad place to be.

If you watch TNT, Kenny Smith is clearly the smartest one on the set. He has a great personality and knows his stuff. He’s my favorite but who gets all the endorsements? Chuck and Shaq. They both have clownish tendencies and unfortunately thats what sells. I think its pretty trite but its not my money that they allegedly spend on studies that apparently indicate this.
Perk falls into the Chuck and Shaq category, Eddie is more Kenny, Ernie is more Dan Patrick.
I’ll take the latter 4 over fake schtick any day of the week!

Yeah, the TNT set as a whole group is hard to beat.  The chemistry is about as good as you're going to see anywhere or ever.  The balance between goofball and seriousness is priceless and one of the best sports shows I've ever seen in my lifetime.  

db

P.S. Ktron, Kenny Smith is the EF Hutton of the panel....

dbrown4 wrote:Yeah, the TNT set as a whole group is hard to beat.  The chemistry is about as good as you're going to see anywhere or ever.  The balance between goofball and seriousness is priceless and one of the best sports shows I've ever seen in my lifetime.  

db

P.S.  Ktron, Kenny Smith is the EF Hutton of the panel....  

Db, Truth. THE Best Sports show evah!

Ktron wrote:

cowens/oldschool wrote:I really haven’t taken Perk seriously since he said we should break up the J’s that they have proven they can’t play together. Then he backtracked saying he was right at the time, but now the J’s are proving they can play together. Really Perk, you wanted it both ways? He’s not as dumb a Scalabrine, but not the brightest bulb out there either.

Perk puts out a number of outrageous takes but its more so to get a reaction. I don’t like it because one not familiar with him would not only take it serious but as you implied, question his intelligence.

Personally I don't think Perk is anywhere close to being dumb. He’s playing the game to get paid and remain relevant.
The problem with the outrageousness of some of his opinions is that he’s alienating himself from a number of peers and after awhile most fans aren’t going to take him serious and begin to tune away. We all know what follows that.
He can be funny and witty and still be appealing without all the nonsense but I honestly think he doesn't care what anyone thinks of him. Thats fine but it can also become problematic. I wish for his sake that he’ll dial it back a bit.

He’s definitely alienating me, I consider him a big blowhard and hes nowhere near as charming or witty as Chuck and Shaq, who also are not near as wishy washy as Perk. Shame his game was so hardnosed and stoic and as a commentator he’s got no semblance of honor to any of his words. The TNT guys make me laugh, Perk makes we want to say STFU!!!!

Lol! I’m sure there’s others who feel that way about Perk.
No, he’s not Shaq or Chuck. They’re stars now but their start (Shaq was close to getting booted off of that show a few weeks after they hired him)
was somewhat similar to Perks.