Kendrick Perkins has had an eventful few days recently. It all started with a wild rant about his days playing for the Oklahoma City Thunder. But things have gotten out of hand after one of his former teammates got involved. And after tonight’s Western Conference Finals game, fans pointed out something that must have embarrassed the player-turned-analyst to no end.
Tonight, Kendrick Perkins attended Game 2 of the series between the Timberwolves and the Thunder. And to pay tribute to one of their own, the Thunder showed Perkins on camera getting an ovation from the fans. But then they played a highlight reel for him. And honestly, we’re playing fast and loose with the term “highlight reel” with this one.
As a fan put it, “They could only show one highlight for Kendrick Perkins.” And they weren’t wrong, the tribute had only one highlight of Perkins. Now, the highlight they showed was admittedly an iconic one — Perk posterizing Giannis Antetokounmpo back in 2014.
They could only show one highlight for Kendrick Perkins pic.twitter.com/WxDPtBcrhM
— Hoops (@HoopMixOnly) May 23, 2025
But the fact that this comes off the heels of Perkins starting a beef with his former teammate Kevin Durant has made the reaction much, much worse. You see, Perk believes he was the X-Factor for the Thunder back in 2012 when they made a run to the NBA Finals. “Let me give you some facts. The Oklahoma City Thunder never went to the NBA Finals until Kendrick Perkins arrived on that team,” said the former NBA Champion.
But his former teammate and the real star of that OKC team was not a fan of Perk trying to retcon history. So he clapped back with a simple yet sarcastic remark. “The actual real mvp,” wrote KD on X. While Perk did do well to help the Thunder during that run, to claim he was the driving force behind that team while both KD and Russell Westbrook were at the peak of their powers is absolute madness.
And saying fans online had a field day with all this is a massive understatement. They trolled Perkins from pillar to post as fans could hardly believe that, after all this talk, one dunk was all Perk had to show for it. And we’ve made sure to compile the best reactions from online to this debacle, the OKC Thunder called a tribute.
Fans online tear Kendrick Perkins to pieces for having only one play on his highlight reel for the Thunder after bold claims
Most fans quickly claimed that this was the only memorable moment from Perkins’ time in Oklahoma. “They was like, “yall remember this one” and that was it ,” wrote a fan on X.
And another went even further, “That’s possibly the only FG he made there.” And the now ESPN analyst never averaged more than 5.5 points in a Thunder jersey. So, it can’t be argued that Perkins was a prolific world-beater for them. Even though he’d love to. Other members of the community simply piled on, trolling Perk in their own ways.
One shared a video of Perkins turning over the ball after seemingly passing it to no one. “I got the rest of them,” they wrote, referring to the “rest” of the former champ’s highlight.
While another felt a simple statement would be enough. “Big man has more screens than baskets in his career,” they wrote. We just talked about Perk’s scoring numbers for the Thunder, so this assessment, while embarrassing, is not inaccurate.
May 29, 2012; San Antonio, TX, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder players Russell Westbrook (0), and Derek Fisher (37), and Kendrick Perkins (5), and James Harden (13) and Kevin Durant (35) on the court during a timeout in game two of the Western Conference finals of the 2012 NBA playoffs against the San Antonio Spurs at the AT&T Center. the Spurs won 120-111. Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports
But one fan simply pointed out the obvious, echoing Kevin Durant’s tweet. “Thunder didn’t need him to score when they had KD, Westbrook, Harden and Ibaka out there,” they wrote. And it’s true. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook were the real stars of the show back then. Even without them, the Thunder had one of the best iso scorers in James Harden. And he could step up and take over the scoring responsibilities at any time — no Perk needed. So, sadly for him, no one’s really buying his claim that he pushed the Thunder to the 2012 NBA Finals.
All in all, Kendrick Perkins went through some major embarrassment. The first wave? Self-inflicted and unnecessary. But the second? Now, he can blame his former club for that one!
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