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Bill Simmons and Kendrick Perkins are feuding this week over Perkins’ presence on ESPN’s NBA Draft coverage, and Perkins threw the latest blow on Friday on his podcast.
Originally, Perkins jumped to the conclusion that Toronto’s selection in the first round of the draft would be enough to launch them into the top-six in the Eastern Conference. Live on YouTube after the draft, Simmons joked that Perkins’ take was enough to make him search for a third draft broadcast besides what ESPN and ABC were showing.
Perkins’ 12-minute response on the Road Trippin‘ podcast on Friday came after an initial social media post win which the 2008 NBA champion questioned Simmons’ resume in basketball and whether The Sports Guy may have been drinking before criticizing him.
In the longer, updated retort, Perkins argued Simmons gave his thoughts on the draft coverage because he was simply “bitter” over his departure from ESPN in 2015.
“My problem with you is who the f*ck gave you the keys and said you was the gatekeeper for the game of basketball?” Perkins said, addressing Simmons directly.
“Just because people don’t speak the way that you don’t want them to speak, doesn’t make it wrong. Just because ESPN don’t cover it the way you would like them to cover the game of basketball or the tweets you would like them to make, don’t make it f*cking wrong. And it’s crazy because, Bill, y’all separated a decade ago. I’m talking about you and ESPN. And you’re coming off bitter, my guy.”
Later, Perkins accused Simmons of being more focused on “gossiping” than covering the NBA before spelling out his own resume as a 14-year NBA veteran and champion.
In what could have been a knockout blow, Perkins brought up an insensitive old take by Simmons in an early “Half-Baked Ideas” segment on his podcast in which he suggested WNBA players should play pregnant because their increased hormones lead to emotional “qualities” he wants to see in a player.
“Let’s not act like you haven’t said some asinine things about the game of basketball, especially when it comes down to the WNBA. Saying that women should play pregnant, man are you out of your damn mind?” Perkins said. “You say some absurd things at times. But guess what, Bill? Nobody cares. Nobody is covering you and policing you to speak on the game the way it needs to be spoken on, brother.”
Instead of going in on that and an assortment of other old Simmons takes that have aged poorly, Perkins claimed he didn’t want to attack him any further. Perkins simply implored the Ringer founder to stop “gatekeeping” NBA media and mind his own business:
“Leave me the f*ck alone.”
Nobody could fault Perkins for defending himself, but Simmons has no true power over Perkins’ ability to cover the NBA however he sees fit. As the one on ESPN airwaves for marquee NBA events, it doesn’t quite add up that Perkins would be the one claiming he is being gate-kept. More than anything, Simmons was stating that he hates the coverage because of Kendrick Perkins.
As Kendrick Perkins continues to use his ESPN role to draw attention to himself and deliver opinions that are widely panned online, he probably has more problems than just Simmons.
