Kendrick Perkins is ESPN’s chief NBA troll.
It’s a role that will only grant him more airtime, because he’s doing exactly what the WorldWide Leaders wants. Don’t hate the player. Hate the game.
breaking down Kendrick Perkins vs. jj Redick
Last week, Perkins caused an uproar in NBA circles when he insinuated that Nikola Jokic was again receiving MVP consideration due to voters’ racial biases. Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash and Jokic are the only players who have won the award since 1990 without finishing in the top 10 in scoring.
“What do those guys have in common? I’ll let it sit there and marinate. You think about it,” said Perkins.
Hmm … what could it be? They were all born outside of the U.S. Could Perkins be referring to that?
On Tuesday, JJ Redick returned to “First Take,” and as he often does, took aim at Perkins’ latest hot take.
“What we’ve just witnessed is the problem with this show,” he said. “We create narratives that do not exist in reality. The implication, what you are implying, that the white voters who vote on NBA are racist — that they favor white people. You just said that.”
Perkins doesn’t come off well in the exchange. Instead of engaging with Redick, he just kept shouting: “I did not! I did not! I did not! I stated the facts! I stated the facts! It’s the facts! It’s the facts!”
While Perkins isn’t wrong to posit that underlying racial biases could influence NBA voters, he made his argument in a sloppy manner. I mean, Magic Johnson also won the MVP award without being in the top 10 in scoring. Why didn’t race factor in there?
Perkins’ spat with Redick is the latest example in which the ex-center, who made his living in the NBA as an elbow-throwing big man, is placing himself in the middle of a melodrama. Perhaps most notably, Perkins was involved in a rollicking feud with Draymond Green last postseason. The two insulated each other’s looks and integrity.
“Hey, Draymond, you good? The f— wrong with you?" said Perkins during one clap-back. "Didn’t you just win your fourth championship? What the f— you worried about me for? What, you mad? You mad cause I’m doing it my way and it’s happened to work?”
Perkins is right about one thing: his bombast is working. He continues to become more omnipresent on ESPN’s NBA coverage, and unlike other ex-players, doesn’t seem to care about ruining relationships. Last year, Perkins revealed that Russell Westbrook’s wife sent him a text message explaining how much his criticisms of her husband hurt him. Perkins and Westbrook played together for multiple seasons in Oklahoma City, but that didn’t stop Perkins from saying the Lakers should trade him.
There have been several other incidents, too, including Perkins laughably saying that Giannis Antetokounmpo is the Bucks’ version of “Robin.”
In hindsight, Perkins couldn’t look more foolish with that claim. But comeuppance doesn’t slow him down. Last summer, Steph Curry mocked Perkins, who said he would do “absolutely nothing” at the Garden in Game 6 of the NBA Finals, after the Warriors bested the Celtics (Curry scored 34 points in the winning effort).
One season later, Perkins is still spouting takes. He’s bringing the drama, just like he’s supposed to.
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Lamar Jackson is exposing nfl insiders
Lamar Jackson is exposing NFL Insiders: The Ravens placed the non-exclusive franchise tag on Jackson Tuesday, meaning NFL teams are free to make him offers. But since then, we’ve only heard about the teams that aren’t interested in bringing aboard the 2019 NFL MVP.
What gives?
Jackson is reportedly seeking a fully guaranteed deal that surpasses Deshaun Watson’s $230 million. The Browns lavished Watson with money last offseason, even though he hadn’t played in a year and was accused of sexual assault by roughly two dozen women.
The difference is, Jackson doesn’t have an agent, and is representing himself. That means NFL owners are free to use him as an example, without upsetting their relationship with a powerful agent who represents other great players.
But Adam Schefter dismissed that possibility Wednesday. “I know people are saying ‘collusion.’ I just think this is reporters asking high-placed executives on certain teams for their answers,” he said. “It defies logic that a quarterback as talented as Lamar Jackson wouldn’t generate more interest. I’ll leave that to everybody else to figure out their own theories. It’s a quarterback league, and we’ve got an elite quarterback available on the market, but it doesn’t seem right now like there are going to be many suitors for his services.”
Yes, the apparent lack of interest in Jackson defies logic. Maybe Schefter, and these other venerated Insiders, could figure out why.
Instead, look for them to indiscriminately tweet out NFL free agent contracts next week without any context as a favor to agents, of course.
the problem with coverage of Mike Clevinger and domestic violence
Mike Clevinger inconsistency: MLB was investigating White Sox pitcher Mike Clevinger for domestic violence after the mother of his one-year-old daughter accused him of multiple incidents of physical and emotional abuse. She shared her story with The Athletic, and two reporters, Brittany Ghiroli and Katie Strang, wrote up her account.
This week, MLB announced it wouldn’t be disappointing Clevinger. But The Athletic’s writeup of the resolution wasn’t authored by Ghiroli or Strang. Instead, the byline reads “Athletic staff.”
There might be more to the Clevinger story, and Olivia Finestead’s account is horrifying. But news organizations should follow stories all the way through. The Athletic failed to do that here.
Props to Gio: As a longtime sufferer of anxiety and OCD, it was refreshing to hear WFAN host Gregg Giannotti rip a caller who mocked mental illness.
We’ve come a long way from when sports talk shows were solely bastions of toxic masculinity. The world is changing!