Kendrick Perkins is usually the one doing the roasting, but he had the tables turned on him this week.
During Monday’s episode of ESPN’s “First Take,” Perkins got called out on the air for his heavy breathing. Guttural noises coming from Perkins were audible while co-host JJ Redick was speaking. Redick then stopped in the middle of the point he was making to ask incredulously, “Perk, is that you moaning in my ear over and over again?”
Stephen A. Smith also chimed in, saying that Perkins sounded like he had “sleep apnea.”
Here is the full clip (where Perkins tried to play it off as the sound of him being “disgusted” by the Denver Nuggets’ performance in the NBA Finals).
Finally someone on first take crew notices Kendrick Perkins heavy breathing the dude literally struggling on his respiratory system. Lol pic.twitter.com/EPLkg3W8Wi
— John Erick (@erick4three) June 5, 2023
For Perkins, the former NBA center who has been working for ESPN since retiring in 2018, this is no new occurrence. Earlier this year, another video of Perkins’ heavy breathing while on “First Take” went viral (which Perkins claimed at the time was because of the flu).
Maybe ESPN should consider muting Perkins when he is not speaking. That heavy breathing is really distracting for both viewers and his fellow co-hosts.
