

On Monday morning, Kendrick Perkins made his regular appearance on ESPN’s First Take. With co-analyst JJ Redick, Perkins weighed in on what each team has at stake this season. While doing so, Perkins spoke about his time in the NBA with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Perkins spent five seasons with OKC and shared a locker room with Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and Serge Ibaka. While mentioning this, Perkins took a dig at Serge Ibaka, leading to an online beef between the two.
For NBA Players or athletes in general, criticism is white noise but they are after all only human. So, sometimes, they get tempted by the need to respond. Serge Ibaka, the current Milwaukee Bucks forward, reacted and fired back at his former teammate for his “disrespectful” comments on Twitter.
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Serge Ibaka fires back and stands up for Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook
Kendrick Perkins spoke about the youth present in OKC during his playing days. While naming out the players and their ages, Perkins attacked Ibaka. He said, “Serge Ibaka is 21?although he was probably 30 at the time because we already know how certain individuals lie about their age“.? Perkins didn’t divulge more on this topic. However, this one line was enough to get a response from Ibaka himself.
In a series of Tweets, Ibaka called Perkins out and voiced his displeasure. Ibaka understood that Perkins’ job is to analyze and criticize players. However, he wrote that, “this time you (Perkins) went too far”.?Ibaka claimed to have never lied or cheated with the game he loves to play.
The Bucks’ forward accused Perkins of having cheated and broken the locker room’s code of conduct several times. He mentioned that the current ESPN Analyst had lied and spread malicious information on Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. Supposedly, this would happen when the All-Star duo had a tough game.
When KD had a bad game you criticized him behind his back, and when Russ had a bad game then you criticized him. You were not a locker room leader, and then you continued doing the same in the media.
— Serge Ibaka (@sergeibaka) December 26, 2022
The final blow came when Ibaka stated that he understands the nature and requirements of Perkins’ job. However, he believed that there are better ways of doing the same.

via Getty
ATLANTA, GA – JANUARY 23: Kendrick Perkins #5, Kevin Durant #35 and Serge Ibaka #9 of the Oklahoma City Thunder sit in the final seconds of their 103-93 loss to the Atlanta Hawks at Philips Arena on January 23, 2015 in Atlanta, Georgia.? (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
He said, “I understand everyone needs to do their job and take care of their families, but you are proof not everybody knows how to do it with class and dignity”.
Kendrick Perkins responds to Serge Ibaka
At first, he claimed his comments were a joke and apologized to his “brother”. However, this was followed by a remark on Ibaka’s locker room behavior. While not revealing any details, Perkins claimed to know a lot more about Ibaka. He said, “I?m not about to talk about those OKC days and what you were doing in that locker room”.
Did you say spreading lies at @sergeibaka ? Please don’t get me started homie!!!! Please don’t. I’m not about to talk about those OKC days and what you were doing in that locker room. I will not… but you definitely need to stop because you know I KNOW!!!! Carry on tho…
— Kendrick Perkins (@KendrickPerkins) December 26, 2022
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Perkins then asked him to stop the narrative of spreading lies. He also claimed to know something that no one else knew. For the most part, Perkins remained cryptic in his tweet.
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What do you think about the beef between the NBA Champions? Let us know in the comments below.
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