Boston Celtics‘ first duck boat parade in 16 years, but a contributor in the last win, Kendrick Perkins, was nowhere to be seen. The 2008 NBA champ had reportedly faced a ban from the team because of his strong take on Jayson Tatum and Co. While the 39-year-old faced scrutiny from netizens as well, Perk has now finally broken his silence.

Appearing on the Mark Jackson show, Perk stated although he is fond of Brian Scalabrine, his comments that Perk wasn’t invited to the duck boat tour did not go well with the ESPN analyst. “I was like, I never said I wanted to come… It wasn’t my moment or 2008 moment. It was 2024 moment. Let them have their moment,” Perk said. The NBA champion had iterated previously that, had he been invited, he’d reject it 9 out of 10 times. 

He had started on his lack of interest in the parade by bashing the Celtics fanbase. “Boston fans, they expect you to be married to them for life, right? Like a sense of entitlement, like, you owe them your life,” Perk stated on the Mark Jackson show.

Perkins started his NBA career with the Celtics after being traded by the Memphis Grizzlies. His one championship has been with the Boston team, where he also happened to stay the longest. “They raised me,” he says, thankful for the phase. But with his retirement, although he holds love, Perkins states he has closed the chapter. “I haven’t been back to Boston on my own dime since I was traded from there in 2011… The times I went back to Boston was work related,” he said.

Kendrick Perkins as an analyst clashed with Perk as an ex-Celtics star

As the Celtics paraded around with the duck boat as the franchise with most championship banners, Perk’s absence was quite surprising. But not to the people at Celtics. Brian Scalabrine, fellow analyst, and former (2005-2010) teammate to Perkins had claimed that he was purposefully not invited and speculatively due to his critical remarks.

The ex-NBA star turned analyst has had some harsh takes against the present Celtics team, often questioning their moves. He popularly took shots at Celtics head coach, Joe Mazulla, calling him “birdbrain” in a segment in January this year. He had even called out Jayson Tatum, stating, “Enough is enough. I’m so over Jayson Tatum. When is he going to arrive?”

As expected, the comments did not seem to go down well with the team. And as per the reports, the Celtics owner, Wyc Grousbeck, reportedly himself banned Perk from the parade. But turns out, Perkins has no regret over it and could not care less for the Celtics’ famous boat parade.

Stay tuned for more such updates. And to follow what Shaq’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, has to say about the infamous Shaq-Kobe feud, Caitlin Clark’s Olympic snub, and more, watch this video.