Kendrick Perkins is pulling no punches when it comes to the Giannis Antetokounmpo situation.
The ESPN analyst Perkins appeared this week on the “Road Trippin’ Show.” During the episode, Perkins touched on the Milwaukee Bucks star forward Antetokounmpo along with his co-hosts and proceeded to rip Antetokounmpo as a “coward.”
“Giannis is a coward,” said Perkins. “Giannis is a coward. Let’s just call a spade a spade … Giannis is a coward, and I say that respectfully. He don’t wanna be there, and it’s OK … Publicly come out and say, ‘Trade me’ and stand on it.”
Here is the video, which resulted in a heated response from co-host Richard Jefferson.
Kendrick Perkins calls Giannis Antetokounmpo a coward
— Fullcourtpass (@Fullcourtpass) December 12, 2025
“Giannis is a coward, respectfully. Come out and say trade me and stand on it”
(Via @RoadTrippinShow, h/t @HeatCulture13)pic.twitter.com/JqNVp1Q5mi
Perkins is right that rumors of Antetokounmpo’s supposed unhappiness in Milwaukee have been swirling since at least last May when the Bucks lost again in the first round of the playoffs. But instead of ripping off the Band-Aid and publicly asking for a trade, Antetokounmpo has seemingly been dragging his feet while simultaneously putting on a continued front of loyalty.
Another round of rumors was also triggered earlier this month when a report broke claiming that Antetokounmpo had actually requested a trade in private before the season. Antetokounmpo has since supposedly been preaching unity to his Bucks teammates since that report broke, and it seems there is still no end in sight to the whole saga.
That said, Jefferson’s argument was that Antetokounmpo has earned a certain level of respect and leeway to plan his exit as a career-long Bucks star who brought the team two MVP awards as well as an NBA title in 2021. It may be worth mentioning too that Perkins has an increasingly glaring habit of making outrageous public comments.
