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Former Oklahoma City Thunder All-Star Kevin Durant trolled ESPN analyst and former teammate Kendrick Perkins on social media. After Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder took a 1-0 lead against the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference Finals, Perkins reflected on his postseason run during his time in Oklahoma City. A particular segment of Road Trippin podcast caught Durant's attention.
Durant, perhaps in jest, named Perkins the real MVP in 2012 on his X, formerly Twitter.
The actual real mvp https://t.co/n2oZclgFAD
— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) May 22, 2025
Kendrick Perkins claps back at critics about 2012 Thunder
The Thunder are three wins away reaching the Finals. In the podcast clip, former Thunder forward Kevin Durant responds to Perkins speaking on the franchise's last trip to the Finals while saying his name in third person. Perkins reflected on their run to the NBA Finals, per the Road Trippin podcast.
“The Oklahoma City Thunder never went to the NBA Finals until Kendrick Perkins arrived on that team because they couldn't get past the Lakers, who had the twin towers in Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol,” Perkins said. “Now let's talk about that Finals run. In that Finals run, Kendrick Perkins, in the first round, had the assignment of guarding Dirk Nowitzki, which we swept them, right? One-on-one, Dirk Nowitzki. Go put up the tape. Had him frustrated. Everything.”
Perkins continued his rant, which comes as a response to comments made by Kenyon Martin on Gil Arena, questioning Perkins' impact on the 2012 Thunder's postseason run
“Second round, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum. Go look up those numbers. Go look at what they did and what they didn't do. They did absolutely nothing,” Perkins said. “Then, you want to get to the Western Conference Finals. Guess who had to guard the greatest power forward of all time by himself. Mr. Kendrick Perkins. Guess what adjustments we made during that time when we were down 0-2. We switched everything and you can go find the film of me guarding and locking up Tony Parker and Manu Ginobli. Locking them up.
“Go watch Game 3 and I was talking s*** to Steve Kerr because he said I should have been out of the rotation, who was doing the play-by-play at the time. Go to the NBA Finals. Go pull it up again. A few double-doubles in there. So, my thing is, if you're going to say something, at least have the facts,” Perkins concluded.
Perkins clapped back with receipts.
“I was able to hold my own and defend Dirk, Pau Gasol, and Tim Duncan, I damn sure wouldn't have had a problem with Isaiah Hartenstein, Chet Holmgren, and Jalen Williams,” Perkins said. “That's what I wanted to address.”
Kendrick Perkins says he locked up Dirk, Pau, Andrew Bynum, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu during OKC’s 2012 Finals run
“The Oklahoma City Thunder never went to the NBA Finals until Kendrick Perkins arrived on that team.”
(🎥 @RoadTrippinPod )
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) May 22, 2025
The Thunder will host the Timberwolves in Game 2 on Thursday.
