Kendrick Perkins is always willing to let the NBA takes fly, and early in his ESPN career, it nearly led to some dire consequences.
Analyzing the 2021 NBA Finals on the air for the Worldwide Leader, Perkins claimed that two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo was not in fact the No. 1 option for the Milwaukee Bucks. While it was a fairly run-of-the-mill opinion for daytime sports television, it incited the anger of one NBA fan, who began sending violent threats to Perkins and his wife.
“This dude was sending me threat after threat after threat. ‘Imma kill your kids, as soon as you get there, I know where you stay, Imma murder you,'” Perkins recalled in the latest episode of his Road Trippin’ podcast. “This was real life.”
Though Perkins is no stranger to sports media beef or defending his takes against fans online, this crossed a line. So Perkins contacted ESPN security, hoping that they could help protect him and his family before the threats turned real.
With the power of Disney management behind it, ESPN security quickly prevailed.
“They locked the motherf*cker up,” Perkins said. “They found the dude and locked him up.”
The story came as part of the hosts’ discussion on the threats that NBA players receive from sports bettors. Increasingly, athletes are sounding the alarm on the hate and violent threats they receive over failing to reach benchmarks that would pay out gamblers on prop bets and game wagers.
Perkins told the story of how his innocuous Bucks take led to a man being imprisoned to highlight how serious these threats can become, but also to encourage athletes to take advantage of NBA resources. The league and its teams have contacts and cash that can help protect players, just as Kendrick Perkins received help from Disney and ESPN in his early days on television.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.