Kendrick Perkins has become quite the outspoken talking head on ESPN in recent years, and his scorching takes have caught the eyes of many. He has beefed with current NBA players in recent times as well, and his latest comments regarding the Boston Celtics have led to some more drama in the NBA world.
The Celtics managed to get an impressive win over the New York Knicks on Saturday night, holding their opponents to just 75 points, while putting 99 on the board themselves. Jaylen Brown was magnificent, recording his first triple-double, while Jayson Tatum didn’t have his best game, but was solid nonetheless.
Following the result, Perkins tweeted praise for Brown’s performance while calling out Tatum for his poor shooting night in the same breath. Jayson didn’t take too kindly to the provocation, later responding telling Perkins that he didn’t have to bring Tatum down to hype up Brown’s performance.
This caused some ripples throughout the NBA world, with fans taking sides as they debated whether Perkins was right to indulge in his veiled criticism. However, Washington Wizards player Kyle Kuzma, no stranger to media criticism himself, reached out to Tatum on Twitter to let him know that he didn’t need to pay attention to the noise.
Don’t trip king!!! They have to make money somehow remember that 👍🏽💯
— kuz (@kylekuzma) January 9, 2022
Kuzma often earned the wrath of the media when he played for the Los Angeles Lakers and didn’t perform particularly well, and there is similar pressure on the Celtics duo with their storied franchise. Brown and Tatum have both had less-than-perfect seasons so far in this campaign, and the C’s have suffered for it, currently sitting in the final play-in spot in the Eastern Conference.
Tatum is averaging 25 points this season, although his efficiency has been quite poor, averaging just 41% from the field and 33% from three-point range. While Tatum may be right in calling out the media for constantly comparing players, he will need to back up his criticism with performances. Otherwise, the media will have more ammunition to attack him and the Celtics will be staring down the barrel of a potentially wasted season.
