Russell Westbrook’s wife Nina has always been outspoken in supporting the star point guard, and that continued when one of Westbrook’s former teammates was critical of him earlier this season.
During an appearance on the “Marchand and Ourand” sports media podcast this week, Kendrick Perkins spoke about how his relationship with Westbrook is currently in a rough spot. Perkins said Westbrook was very upset with him earlier in the year over the way Perkins answered a question while working with ESPN’s “First Take.”
“I’m actually working on getting my relationship back with one of my brothers, who was very, very upset, in Russell Westbrook,” Perkins said, via Ryan Glasspiegel of the New York Post. “You know, I defended Russell Westbrook for years. And, this year, he struggled. It was a topic that came up on ‘First Take’. They asked me, out of the big three on the Lakers (LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Westbrook), which one would you trade?”
Perkins said he wanted to keep things “real,” so he admitted he would not trade LeBron or Davis. He and Westbrook are close friends from their time together with the Oklahoma City Thunder, which is why Perkins said it “hurt” to have to criticize the Los Angeles Lakers star. After he made the remarks, Perkins says his wife got a text message from Nina Westbrook.
“His wife actually reached out to my wife,” Perkins added. “And with a long text message. It was like, ‘Hey, it hurts me that Kendrick said that Russ needs to be traded. We finally got him back home.'”
Perkins sent a text back saying he never intended to disrespect Westbrook’s family, but Nina did not respond. He has not spoken with Russell, either.
There is nothing wrong with what Perkins said. If Westbrook expects him to lie or not share his actual opinions, he is asking his so-called friend to not do his job. We have seen Nina go off on TV analysts before, so perhaps she was just taking matters into her own hands. Russell certainly should not be angry with Perkins over a remark like that, especially with the season he just had.
