Retired NBA player and current ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins has never been shy to speak his mind. Whether he’s peddling conspiracy theories about the Los Angeles Lakers, anointing ‘the next Dwyane Wade’ or divulging the real reason Russell Westbrook wanted off the Houston Rockets, he always keeps it real.
As such, it should come as no surprise that he did it again this week.
Heading into the NBA Finals, Perkins offered a pretty harsh assessment of the Milwaukee Bucks.
More specifically, he gave a pretty controversial take on Giannis Antetokounmpo.
.@KendrickPerkins isn’t moving off his claim that Giannis is the “Robin” of the Bucks.
“His dominance in the 3rd quarter took away from others. … For the whole entire 3rd quarter we watched Jrue Holiday and we watched Khris Middleton stand around and watch Giannis go to work!” pic.twitter.com/NuHTmSbExQ
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) July 9, 2021
“I don’t think I need to repeat myself, but I will anyway damnit,” he said two weeks ago. “[Khris] Middleton is the Batman, Giannis is the Robin, and that’s OK!”
Well, it appears that after Game 3 of the 2021 NBA Finals, Perkins has changed his mind.
“[Giannis] is the most dominant player in the NBA.”
—@KendrickPerkins pic.twitter.com/IPEwt2vbSI
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) July 13, 2021
“You could stop the Milwaukee Bucks in general, just let Giannis get his and shut everybody else,” he said on The Jump Tuesday. “…There’s no way to stop Giannis when he’s in attack mode. He is the most dominant player in the NBA.”
That’s quite a shift in position in less than a month.
The Bucks owner’s daughter decided to bring 2021 in with a bang by stripping all her clothes off. https://t.co/UgzhEEna4o
— Game 7 (@game7__) January 7, 2021
Aside from Suns head coach Monty Williams taking a pretty blatant shot at him, Antetokounmpo is having quite a week. Not only is he single-handedly bringing the Bucks back to life in the NBA Finals, but he’s also turning haters like Perkins into fans.
If Antetokounmpo is able to win three more games and actually secure his first NBA title, his status as the league’s most dominant player will officially be beyond reproach.
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A graduate from the University of Texas, Anthony Amador has been credentialed to cover the Houston Texans, Dallas Cowboys, San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks and high school games all over the Lone Star State. Currently, his primary beats are the NBA, MLB, NFL and UFC.
