Kendrick Perkins doesn’t hold back.
The ESPN NBA analyst is paid big bucks to say what’s on his mind, and that means sometimes it comes back to bite him. And this week after Perkins announced on social media that he had finished his NBA awards ballot for the 2024-25 season, SiriusXM NBA Radio host Justin Termine was there with receipts.
Termine posted a clip from his show NBA Today from this time last year in which Perkins appeared as a guest and stated he was done voting on NBA awards because the standards and formula were impossible to determine.
“I’m not,” Perkins said in 2024 when asked if he would use a ballot in the future.
The issue at the time was that Perkins turned himself into a pretzel voting for Rudy Gobert over Anthony Davis for Defensive Player of the Year because he “got caught up in the analytics.”
“I went against my morals on that, so I had to punish myself,” Perkins said.
My guy—- here’s audio of you telling us last year you weren’t going to vote this year.
What happened? https://t.co/nWeZWaoCEB pic.twitter.com/6ZDTnmTaLj
— Justin Termine (@TermineRadio) April 15, 2025
According to his post on X, Perkins went toward Oklahoma City Thunder wing Luguentz Dort as his Defensive Player of the Year this season. Apparently that vote sat fine with Big Perk morally, so he was comfortable going on with his vote.
Perkins has become a punching bag among NBA media because he makes such audacious claims. From his appearances on NBA Today to NBA Countdown to his Road Trippin’ podcast to local radio shows around the country, Perkins probably has a hard time keeping track of all his takes and promises.
Termine’s post was somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but it’s also not hard to sense a little irritation with Perkins from his colleagues. Sure, Charles Barkley has gone way too far in his public feud with Perkins. But it seems that certain NBA media members want Perkins to be a little more reasonable, and they like to check him when they get the chance.
