On the night that Russell Westbrook made his return to OKC to face the Oklahoma City Thunder, Kendrick Perkins was going to go on “SportsCenter” to talk about why Westbrook is the best player in Thunder franchise history. Marc D’Amico, a Boston Celtics writer, challenged Perkins by saying Kevin Durant deserves that title.
Durant and Perkins then got into a back and forth where Durant ripped Perkins for averaging two points per game while they were teammates, while Perkins called out KD for making the weakest move in NBA history by signing with the Golden State Warriors in the summer of 2017.
While Durant won two championships and two NBA Finals MVPs with the Dubs, some still don’t respect him because of how he won them.
On the latest episode of ALL THE SMOKE PODCAST WITH MATT BARNES AND STEPHEN JACKSON, Durant talked about his feud with Perkins:
“You knew that was a divisive statement,” the former Thunder star said. “You know that people would kind of [say], ‘Oh, that’s a shot at KD.’ You know that. So my whole thing is, you don’t have to do that. In order for you to praise Russell, you don’t have to sh** on me….
“Perk, you’re just playing into that because you want a job and you want some notoriety in your profession but we were friends before this. We actually played basketball games before this. I know your family so why are you trying to use that tactic against one of your so-called brothers?”
By all accounts, Perkins and Durant were good friends just this past offseason. It’s unclear what changed or if they are just putting on a show for NBA Twitter and ESPN segments.
Durant is now on the Brooklyn Nets. He's going to miss the entire season recovering from his Achilles tear.
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