Kendrick Perkins made his name in the NBA as a big man who takes no nonsense from anyone, especially anyone going against his team. Perkins is the type of player to do whatever it takes for his team. No matter if it’s setting a hard screen, issuing a hard foul or even being the mediator in situations.
Perkins spent some time as the big enforcer for the Oklahoma City Thunder, joining the squad during the prime of the Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant era. Perkins came from the Boston Celtics in a trade for Jeff Green and immediately he was looked at for leadership and guidance for the then-youthful core. Perkins went on to do much of the same with the Cleveland Cavaliers and New Orleans Pelicans.
Although Perkins currently doesn’t have a job in the NBA, he does have some great perspective on a few things. He joined ‘The Vertical Podcast with Woj’ and talked to host Adrian Wojnarowski about playing with Kevin Garnett, his time in the NBA and most notably the relationship between Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant.
After Durant left the Thunder this summer and joined the Golden State Warriors there have been differing views on their relationship. KD says all is ‘cool’ but Westbrook says they haven’t talked. Either way, Perkins says these two All-Stars will regret not working it out and playing together for the long haul.
Brett Dawson of the Oklahoman transcribed the conversation Perkins had with Wojnarowski detailing the Westbrook and Durant Dynamic.
“I think to me, what happened was with Russ and KD, I think they never really valued each other like that should have. And not saying that they didn’t value as, like, didn’t like each other. What I’m talking about is, I don’t think they ever realized and said, hey – I don’t think Russ ever realized and said, ‘Hey, man, I got Kevin Durant on my side. We could take over this league.’ And I never thought KD did vice versa. He never said, ‘Hey, I got Russell Westbrook on my side.’ You got two of the top five players in the NBA on the same team. And I just think that they never valued each other, and trust me – I’m telling you this right now – when they think about this 10 years later, they’re gonna regret that. They’re gonna regret that they didn’t value each other the way that they should have. And I’m talking about both of them. And I ain’t saying they didn’t like each other, because it wasn’t none of that. I mean, we all played cards, they laughed and joked, we all had conversation. We had a group text going about Redskin and Cowboys football, because it was all good.
“I think what it was was this. Let me correct that. I think what it was was this. Russ actually did value KD as being the player that he is. But what I had to explain – and I explained it to KD – is that what you have to understand about Russ is that Russ, at the time, he wasn’t getting the credit of being on the same level as KD, but he had the potential. The whole thing was is that, I thought out of all that, it never really came down to those two guys that got in the way of each other. It always was the outside that got in the way of both of them…
“It was always the outside. It was always a controversy of whose team it was. Why it just can’t be both of y’all’s team? How about Russ goes for 50 one night, you go for 60 the next night?”
Another layer of this KD and Russ relationship is revealed. These two men are very polarizing figures and when someone says they could’ve done a better job to work on their relationship, people take notice. Especially someone like Perkins who has been viewed as a locker room leader in the past.
Listen to the whole podcast below.
