“Don’t try to fu** up my credibility with no fu*** lies” – Kendrick Perkins insists that he was the leader of the OKC Thunder during his time there
Perkins said the young Thunder had three factions when he arrived there.
ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins fired back at his former teammate Kevin Durant in the recent episode of the “Road Trippin” podcast. The retired big man took offense at Durant, mocking him for claiming on an ESPN show that he, not KD, was the leader of the Oklahoma City Thunder when he was there.
In his rebuttal, Perkins contended that the Thunder were a young and talented team with no definite leader. Durant was without question their best player, but since they were all very young, 30-year-old Nick Collison was the de facto leader.
“When I arrived, I saw separation. I come from a contending team with the Celtics, where everybody was united. I get there, they had three separate groups. This group did not fu** with KD, and KD did not fu** with this group. They had so much tension to the point that we went on road trips, KD brought his boys because nobody on the team would go,” Perkins said.
Perkins took it upon himself to help the team bond
“Big Perk” did not mention the three factions when he arrived in OKC on February 24, 2011, during the trade that sent Jeff Green and Nenad Krstic to the Celtics. But he said the division looked bad that he felt it would affect their winning.
Because of this, Perkins said he started a group text between him and his teammates. His purpose? Because they were NFL fans, he wanted them to bond with one another, talking about football in the text. Kendrick even said that they went out together and watched a Cowboys vs Redskins game because of that.
“I called Troy Weaver, who was the general manager to Sam Presti at the time, and I said, ‘Weave, who was the leader on that team?’ He said, ‘You and Nick and everybody know it.” Don’t try to fu** up my credibility with no fu***lies. You know who came in that mother fu*** and changed the culture,” added Perk.
KD poked fun at Perk’s claim
Although Perkins did not play until March 14, the Thunder finished the regular season with a 19-7 record to end the 2010-11 campaign with a 55-27 mark, which, at that time, was their best since 1998, when they won 61 games. Fast forward to 13 years later, KD scoffed at “Big Perk’s” statement.
“I know this may be a reach, but this comment is by far the craziest shit I’ve seen this week,” wrote Durant on ‘X’ while commenting on a post from NBA Central, which quoted Perk saying he was OKC’s leader.
Kendrick averaged only 4.2 points and 5.9 rebounds per game in five seasons with the Thunder. However, he always had a strong locker room presence and brought that championship experience from Boston. From that standpoint, there might be some truth to what he is claiming.
