Kevin Durant torches Kendrick Perkins over leadership claim
Kevin Durant called cap on Kendrick Perkins.
The Suns’ All-Star wing roasted former teammate Kendrick Perkins for claiming he served as the leader on the past Thunder teams that featured the big three of Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden.
“I know this may be a reach but this comment is by far the craziest s–t I’ve seen this week,” Durant quote tweeted Thurdsay above a post with Perkins’ remarks.
Durant and Perkins served as teammates with the Thunder from 2011-15, with those teams being remembered for having three future Hall of Famers in Durant, Westbrook and Harden.
Harden technically left the team after the 2011-12 campaign, but the Durant/Westbrook/Harden combo shined together for three seasons.
Perkins, whose carer is most remember for his time on the 2008 championship Celtics, averaged 4.2 points in 275 games with Oklahoma City.
The ESPN analyst took a flame to Durant’s leadership while propping himself up during a discussion about his former teammate prior to Thursday’s NBA trade deadline.
Teams had been trying to trade for Durant amid the Suns’ mediocre season but he ultimately stayed put, in part due to him turning down a potential Warriors reunion.
“I said Kevin Durant, another organization, another failure. I didn’t say it was his fault. This is a failed season,” Perkins said. “I’d done been on so many teams with so many Hall of Famers. On the Celtics team, everybody will probably think (Kevin Garnett) was the leader. He wasn’t the leader. You know who the leader was? It was James Posey. So, every single team doesn’t mean your best player is the leader.
“When I was with Oklahoma City Thunder, it wasn’t KD, it wasn’t Russ, it wasn’t James, I was the one leading along with Nick Collison.”
Perkins then compared Durant to another future Hall of Famer in LeBron James in an attempt to drive home his point that Durant isn’t a good leader.
“You replace LeBron and KD and you give LeBron Bradley Beal and Devin Booker and they wouldn’t be sitting at (25-25),” he said.
Perkins certainly has a point about being a great player not meaning said individual is a great leader, but pulling a Hulk Hogan and putting himself over may take away from his message a tad bit.
The Suns have been one of the NBA’s biggest disappointments despite their big three of Durant, Booker and Beal, but it’s probably better to question the roster construction than Durant’s leaderhip.
Phoenix enters Friday’s game against the NBA-leading Thunder in a three-way tie for the ninth seed in the Western Conference.
Durant is 26.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game.
