It all started with a tweet criticizing Marcus Smart. During the 2019 NBA playoffs, Perkins decided to start live-tweeting his thoughts on the games. He caught Smart committing a defensive slip-up, and let his thumbs fly.
A producer from FS1 DM’d Perkins shortly thereafter, asking if he would be interested in appearing on “Undisputed” with Skip Bayless. Then ESPN followed.
Perk the TV star was born.
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“I said something like, ‘You know you’re not supposed to leave strong-side corner, Marcus Smart,’ and I got a DM after that asking if I’d like to go on ‘Undisputed,’ the Skip Bayless show,” Perkins told Chad Finn in a recent Globe profile.
Since then, Perkins has been an omnipresent part of national and local NBA coverage. In addition to daily hits on ESPN, Perkins was part of NBC Sports Boston’s Celtics team, along with former teammates Brian Scalabrine and Eddie House.
Scalabrine, Perkins says, got him started with NBC Boston.
“I mean, as much as I helped him through his career, that’s the least he could do,” he said.
Perkins’ charisma plays well on camera, but his most valuable asset is his willingness to criticize players — including former teammates and mentees. Sometimes that’s landed Perkins in the crosshairs. Last season, Jayson Tatum called out Perkins on Twitter for critical post-game commentary.
But blowback from players hasn’t propelled Perkins to hold back. He criticized Tatum and Jaylen Brown last week after the NBA Finals.
Armed with a long-term deal from ESPN, Perkins is poised to be on our TVs for years to come. Not bad for a career that started with an impromptu tweet about defensive positioning.