Shaquille O’Neal and Kendrick Perkins found common ground. The ESPN analyst wasn’t happy with the Philadelphia 76ers’ loss against the New York Knicks. The 76ers’ forward Tobias Harris’ underwhelming performance at the game quickly got criticized by Perkins. During the ESPN First Take,’ the retired NBA player had some harsh words for Harris.
He said, “Tobias Harris, let him walk. I mean, damn. He asked them if they wanted something from Chick-fil-A before the game.” Perkins compared his performance to Chick-fil-A and further added, “The team told him, ‘Yes,’ and he came back with a back full of napkins and straws. I mean, he was just a no-show.”
The 76ers were behind the Knicks 3-2 in the playoffs series. In game 6, Embiid scored 39 points and 13 rebounds to help the team. However, it wasn’t enough to win. The conversation has come down to Harris who ended the game with zero points. Back in 2019, Harris signed a five-year deal worth $180 million with the franchise. With that, he is the second-highest-paid player on the team after Embiid. It seems his comment found support from O’Neal who shared the clip from the show on his Instagram Story. Here is the video for you to see.
ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below this ad
View this post on Instagram
ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below this ad
It was good to see that the Big Man of the league came up to show his support to the ESPN analyst after the brief beef the two had.
Shaquille O’Neal responded to Kendrick Perkins’ criticism
Previously, Perkins argued about one of O’Neal’s statements. He stated that the two NBA veterans on the TNT show make their analysis of games and teams’ performance without even watching all of the games. The other person in question is Charles Barkley. His comment came after O’Neal and Chuck’s constant disapproval of the New York Knicks‘ improvement even after the team finished as the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference.
ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below this ad
During a conversation on The Michael Kay Show, Perkins shared, “Obviously they don’t watch basketball. I’m serious, they can’t watch basketball on a consistent basis.” “The only time they actually probably watch the Knicks are when they’re covering the Knicks on their game nights,” Perkins said to host Michael Kay.
However, soon O’Neal fired back his response. He wrote, “Can a non-hall of Famer speak on two hall of famers just asking.” While the Los Angeles Lakers legend never mentioned the name of the analyst or anyone in his comment, it seemed to be a shot at the NBA veteran. What is your take on this? Let us know in the comments section below.