Kendrick Perkins dished out a wild take on First Take on Thursday and has now been fact-checked for it. Perkins was asked on the show whether the Los Angeles Lakers‘ bigger priority this offseason should be appeasing Luka Doncic or doing right by LeBron James, and he went with the latter for one specific reason.
“It’s a no-brainer,” Perkins said. “Doing right by LeBron James, and here’s why. Because when it matters the most, when it’s time for those 16 games, the playoffs that I’m talking about, you best to believe that LeBron James is going to be available. You best to believe that LeBron James is going to be healthy.
“I can’t say the same thing about Luka Doncic,” Perkins stated. “Luka Doncic, for the last 3 years, it’s been something come postseason time. Whether it’s been out of shape, or him dealing with some type of injuries, and majority of the time it comes to soft tissue injuries. So, if you’re the Lakers, you have a concern there.
“Yeah, you could get through the regular season,” Perkins continued. “And Luka is a fantastic talent, we’re not going to take that away from him. One of the best scorers that this game has ever seen. But when it comes to being reliable, Luka is starting to get in that territory of Joel Embiid. When you need him the most, and it comes postseason time, he’s not available.
“And if he is available, he’s never close to 70% because he’s always dealing with injuries,” Perkins added. “We don’t have them worries with a senior citizen in LeBron James. He’s available.”
Doncic, of course, missed the Lakers’ entire 2026 playoff run due to a Grade 2 left hamstring strain. While that wasn’t ideal, claiming he’s entering Joel Embiid territory is a bit much, and Perkins was promptly fact-checked.
“Luka playoff availability by year:
2020: Played in every playoff game
2021: Played in every playoff game
2022: Played in 15/18 playoff games
2023: Team missed playoffs
2024: Played in every playoff game
2025: Played in every playoff game
2026: Injured”
Luka playoff availability by year:
2020: Played in every playoff game
2021: Played in every playoff game
2022: Played in 15/18 playoff games
2023: Team missed playoffs
2024: Played in every playoff game
2025: Played in every playoff game
2026: Injured https://t.co/ann4inC1dq
— Synthetic Sports (@SyntheticSports) May 14, 2026
Prior to this year, Doncic had only missed three playoff games in his NBA career. The Slovenian was out for the first three games of the first round series between the Dallas Mavericks and the Utah Jazz in 2022 with a calf strain.
So, the Embiid comparison just doesn’t make sense. The Philadelphia 76ers superstar has made eight trips to the playoffs in 10 seasons and missed at least one game in six of them.
Doncic is nowhere near as unreliable as Embiid. Now, Perkins claimed it is three seasons in a row with issues, so let’s have a look.
If we go back to 2025, Doncic had suffered a back injury in Game 5 of the first round of the playoffs against the Minnesota Timberwolves. That, though, was down to an awkward fall to the floor after a foul, and he still managed to finish the game.
Doncic was also dealing with a stomach bug in the lead-up to Game 3, but that’s not an injury. Whatever he was dealing with in 2025 could have happened to anybody. Was Doncic a bit overweight? Sure, but he still put up 30.2 points per game against the Timberwolves.
Now, Doncic was dealing with knee, ankle, and chest issues during the 2024 playoffs when he was with the Mavericks. He still averaged 28.9 points, 9.5 rebounds, 8.1 assists, 1.9 steals, and 0.4 blocks per game and took them to the NBA Finals.
If you’re Perkins, you can’t really point to Doncic’s injuries in 2024 being a cause for concern and then talk about how James has been healthy. He was dealing with injuries in the playoffs in the three seasons before this one.
James played through a torn tendon in his right foot in the 2023 playoffs. It was then a sore left ankle in 2024 and a Grade 2 MCL sprain in 2025.
Every player tends to be dealing with one thing or another come playoffs. Doncic has been able to play through whatever issues he has had, for the most part. So, it was quite unfair on Perkins’ part to call him unreliable and compare him to Embiid of all people.
