Kendrick Perkins recalls that one time he made a mistake on-air: “I spilled all the beans that I wasn’t supposed to say”
Kendrick Perkins on Kevin Durant's Achilles injury
Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
NBA champion Kendrick Perkins is one of a handful of former players turned analysts regularly seen on air. Perkins, who played 16 years in the league, is often seen on ESPN’s morning shows, specifically “First Take” and “Get Up” and on NBC Sports Boston, where he shares (and screams) his takes about what’s going on in NBA.
Amidst his three-year stint on live television, the former Boston Celtic has had his fair share of ups and down. One moment he’ll never forget was when the Golden State Warriors’ management called him out for disclosing in-house intel that he shouldn’t have said on TV.
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Perk’s “whoops” moment
According to Perkins, who recently guested on the “The Old Man and the Three” podcast, he accidentally revealed on-air that it was the Warriors’ general manager Bob Myers who persuaded Kevin Durant to play in the 2019 NBA Finals despite not being 100% healthy — which caused him to tear his Achilles. According to Pekins, he got in trouble because this intel wasn’t supposed to get out on live television in the first place.
“So, here’s the thing. The same Perk you see on television is the same guy I was in the locker room. So, I would say the same thing to the guys as far as holding them accountable. Me and Kevin Durant fell out right, we went from being best friends to him playing in Golden State. When he tore his Achilles, I remember going to his house because I was out there working the game in the Finals, I mean when he had the calf strain, I went to his house and said ‘look bro, you don’t have a damn thing to prove, shut it down, it’s no reason for you to even be playing, you’re a two-time champion, two-time finalist MVP so what did he do? He went out there and play and end up tearing his Achilles,” Perkins said.
“The next day I go on TV and I’ll fire by myself and said Bob Myers put pressure on him to play, go in right, I spilled all the beans that I wasn’t supposed to say that they told me that I was supposed to keep in-house but I didn’t know. I’m just speaking my mind and talking it up with my boy, I didn’t really give a damn about Bob Myers, I was just pissed off that you know, KD was out there playing when he shouldn’t have been,” Perkins added.
The balance of being truthful and critical
Over the past three years, Perkins admits that one of the biggest lessons he’s learned from being a sports analyst is the importance of being himself and keeping a balance between being truthful and critical. He said that he always makes it a point to stay honest, give the facts and call people out no matter who they may be.
In the case of Kevin Durant and Bob Myers’ situation above, Perk was probably just being a good friend by defending KD. Little did he know that defending Durant would backfire and cause Myers to freak out on him.
