If Kendrick Perkins wanted to get a rise out of Kevin Durant, he appears to have succeeded.
The retired former NBA big man Perkins, who is now an analyst for ESPN, went viral on Thursday for his latest wild comments. Perkins, who was a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder from 2011-15, claimed that he was the leader of that team.
His comments came during a discussion on “NBA Today” about the Phoenix Suns, Durant’s current team. Perkins said that the Suns were lacking a vocal leader and stated that he himself (along with Nick Collison) was the leader on those old OKC teams, not Durant, Russell Westbrook, or James Harden.
You can watch Perkins’ full remarks below.
"I said, 'Kevin Durant, another organization, another failure.' I didn't say it was his fault."@KendrickPerkins and @ThisIsUD share the importance of a strong supporting cast and leadership in the locker room pic.twitter.com/LZaztzjWuY
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) February 6, 2025
In a post to his X page, Durant reacted specifically to Perkins’ leader claim and gave a profane response. “I know this may be a reach but this comment is by far the craziest s–t I’ve seen this week,” Durant wrote (profanity edited by LBS).
Durant, Westbrook, and Harden were all in their early 20s when they were together on the Thunder while Perkins was an elder statesman of sorts who had already been in the league for several years prior and won an NBA title with the Boston Celtics in 2008. But it is still a stretch for Perkins to say that he was the leader of that team, especially when he was averaging 4.2 points per game and regularly found himself left out of closing lineups in favor of Serge Ibaka as a small-ball 5.
Now 40 years old, Perkins has definitely become a hot take artist of sorts since joining ESPN in 2019. But Durant is not having these latest comments from his ex-Thunder teammate in what is now the latest chapter in their public feud that dates back several years.
