Kendrick Perkins implores ESPN to stop talking Lakers: “The world is tired of talking about them”

ESPN loves talking about the Los Angeles Lakers and they certainly love talking about LeBron James. But NBA analyst Kendrick Perkins has had enough.

“I’m getting tired of talking about the Lakers, OK? They’re 18 games under .500!” Perkins ranted Friday morning on First Take. “Now it’s time to move on. It’s time to talk about other teams that need our attention…I don’t wanna talk about LeBron, I don’t wanna talk about Russ, I don’t wanna talk about Anthony Davis, I think we’re all, the world is tired of talking about them.”

Entering the season with championship aspirations and a team led by a Big 3 of James, Russell Westbrook and Anthony Davis, the Lakers ended up being a bad basketball team. So bad that some analysts have considered the 2021-22 Lakers to be the biggest disappointment in basketball history.

“Please! Let’s just stop. Not you guys,” Perkins said to excuse his co-hosts as he filled in on First Take alongside Victoria Arlen, Shae Cornette and Jordan Cornette. “But I gotta talk to my producers. Where’s Dave Roberts at, where’s Antoine [Lewis] at. I’m just sick of the Lakers. I’M JUST SICK OF THE LAKERS. I’m tired of it!”

We’ve known for weeks, if not months that the Lakers were not a title contender this season. But James is just too popular, powerful and polarizing for sports shows and producers to avoid putting him in their rundown.

Perkins also is not the first person who complained about having to talk about James too much on ESPN. Last year, ex-ESPNer Paul Pierce complained The Mothership wasn’t a good fit for him because of their affinity for James. But Pierce didn’t call out ESPN’s senior vice president of NBA and studio production Dave Roberts, or Antoine Lewis, the network’s VP of production.

“For one moment, one moment please! Just the rest of this playoffs, can we enjoy the others,” Perkins pleaded. “Let’s enjoy the others that are deserving…and not talk about the Lakers. I’m done with it, I’ve been coming on here time and time again telling you how I’m tired of the Lakers and today I’m officially done…I’m done. Yeah, I’m done.”

[ESPN]