Kendrick Perkins has a new title to add to his business card. The former NBA champion and ESPN talking head is now the general manager of Jackson State’s basketball program, according to a Friday report from Shams Charania.
Perkins will keep his full-time job on ESPN, where he has spent the last six years yelling about LeBron James and Ja Morant. The Jackson State role is part GM, part recruiter, and part ambassador for the school’s broadcasting and journalism program.
It is a strange hire on paper. Perkins has zero connection to Jackson State. He never played college basketball. He came into the NBA straight out of high school in 2003 after originally committing to Memphis.
But strange hires can work in 2026 college basketball. The transfer portal era has turned schools into franchises. Coaches need front office people who can sell, network, and operate like NBA executives. That is exactly what Perkins is built to do.
The Jackson State move follows a familiar pattern. John Wall took a similar advisory role at Howard. Stephen Curry has done it with HBCU programs through his foundation. These ex-players bring credibility, NBA connections, and immediate visibility to schools that have spent decades fighting for attention.
The criticism will come fast. Perkins has alienated plenty of players with his takes over the years. Ja Morant publicly called him out. Kevin Durant blocked him on social media. Even some Boston Celtics teammates have rolled their eyes at his ESPN persona.
None of that matters for the GM role. The job is recruiting and building relationships with NBA decision makers, and Perkins has those phone numbers. His 14 years in the league included stops in Boston, Oklahoma City, Cleveland, and New Orleans. He played for Doc Rivers, Scotty Brooks, and Tyronn Lue. He won a title in 2008.
That resume opens doors. Jackson State head coach Mo Williams, himself a former NBA guard, clearly sees the value of having Perkins as a recruiting weapon. The program has been trying to claw its way back to relevance since Deion Sanders briefly turned the campus into a national story during his football tenure.
The deeper question is whether Perkins has the patience for the actual work. ESPN is a lot easier than scouting AAU games in July or working the phone for 6 a.m. transfer portal commitments. The romance of being a college GM wears off when you are trying to convince a kid’s mom that Jackson, Mississippi is the right fit.
Then again, Perkins does not have to do any of this alone. The GM title at the college level usually means front office support staff handles the daily grind while the big name shows up for the recruiting visit closer.
For Jackson State, this is a swing. For Perkins, this is brand expansion. For college basketball, this is another sign that the line between the NBA and the NCAA gets thinner every year.
Jackson State is not Duke, Kentucky, or Kansas. The Tigers play in the SWAC and have not been to the NCAA Tournament since 2007. But adding Kendrick Perkins to the front office is the kind of headline that gets a kid in Atlanta to take a phone call. Sometimes that is the whole game.
Expect to see Perkins at the next SWAC media day. Expect him to keep showing up on First Take. And expect more of these hires across HBCU programs as the model proves it can work.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
