Kendrick Perkins is one of ESPN’s most outspoken personalities when it comes to all things hoops.
This week, amid the Western Conference Finals playing out, Perkins trained his fire on one player in particular: the NBA’s current Defensive Player of the Year, Rudy Gobert.
“I have the biggest regret in my media career and I’m retiring from voting for individual awards, regular-season awards, because I have done in disservice in using my voting rights,” Perkins said.
“Me voting this season for Rudy Gobert (for Defensive Player of the Year) is an embarrassment for me. He’s the first player that we see every single time in the postseason that becomes a defensive liability.”
Kendrick Perkins says that he’s embarrassed he used his Defensive Player of the Year vote on Rudy Gobert and calls it the biggest regret of his media career.
“He has tarnished the Defensive Player of the Year award. He has. He’s not respected by his peers. We saw what happened… pic.twitter.com/P4ykITaNZu
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 28, 2024
ESPN’s Alyssa Lang Called Out For Inappropriate On-Air Outfit https://t.co/yey1eLXXfU
— Game 7 (@game7__) May 28, 2024
Perkins didn’t stop there, though.
“When I look at Rudy, he has tarnished the Defensive Player of the Year Award, he has. He’s not respected by his peers,” Perkins continued.
“We saw what happened to him in the Denver series — he couldn’t even guard the person at his position. Karl-Anthony Towns did a better job at that.
“What is he doing right now? When you look at this (Western Conference Finals) series right now, do we realize that Rudy has three blocks in three games? He’s averaging one block in one game, at 7-foot-3. Unacceptable to say he’s a four-time Defensive Player of the Year.”
It is hard to fault Perkins for his emotional take. Gobert has been that awful throughout the playoffs.
Obviously the Minnesota Timberwolves were able to stave off elimination in Game 4 of their series of the Dallas Mavericks, but it feels like only a matter of time before they get eliminated from the postseason.
Once that happens, some very serious conversations will need to occur about Gobert and his true impact on the defensive side of the ball.
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Jennifer Withers Hoey is a former Business Development Manager who transitioned to writing about sports. With valuable connections all over the West Coast, she has used those contacts to break some of the most interesting stories pertaining to the Portland Trail Blazers, Oregon Ducks, LA Lakers, LA Clippers, Seattle Supersonics (RIP), and more.
