Kendrick Perkins still apparently has some smoke for his former teammate Kevin Durant.
The retired former NBA big man Perkins, who is now an analyst for ESPN, appeared Friday on “NBA Today.” During the appearance, Perkins reacted to the Oklahoma City Thunder’s victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals and made the bold claim that Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is now the greatest player in franchise history.
Many interpreted that as a shot at Durant, who is widely considered to hold the title of the greatest Thunder player ever (not counting the franchise’s Seattle SuperSonics era). Here is the video of Perkins’ comments.
Kendrick Perkins on SGA: "Greatest Thunder (player) of all time"@KDTrey5 This guy really hates you or what? pic.twitter.com/RucDKXBogk
— MrBuckBuck (@MrBuckBuckNBA) May 23, 2025
Gilgeous-Alexander, who has been on the Thunder since 2019, is bolstering his argument, especially after winning NBA MVP this year and bringing OKC to within two wins of the NBA Finals. But he may still have more work to do to catch Durant, who was on the Thunder from 2007-16. Durant led OKC to four conference finals appearances and an NBA Finals berth in 2012, also winning MVP himself to go along with seven All-Star selections and four scoring titles. While Russell Westbrook is likely the most beloved Thunder player of all-time, Durant (at least unless Gilgeous-Alexander wins the NBA championship this season) is still generally regarded as the overall greatest player in Thunder history.
That said, there were probably some personal undertones to Perkins’ comments here. Perkins was teammates with Durant on the Thunder from 2011-15, but their relationship has really unraveled in more recent years.
Since at least 2020, Perkins and Durant have been taking personal swipes at each other online. Even as recently as last February, Perkins and Durant were trading profane jabs in public. Now Perkins is rekindling their beef this week with yet another shot at Durant.
