Brian Scalabrine has earned the wrath of former teammate Kendrick Perkins after he claimed that the big man was not invited to the Boston Celtics’ title parade last week. Scalabrine was among the former Celtics from that 2008 championship team who were present and he stated on his SiriusXM Radio show, The Starting Lineup, that Perkins isn’t welcomed back by the organization like other former players are.
“No, no, no, no, no, no,” Scalabrine said when asked if Perkins was present. “Big scarlet letter. … It’s not really an open-arms thing with Kendrick Perkins.”
Brian Scalabrine just went on the radio and said that the Celtics don’t welcome Kendrick Perkins back like they do with the other former players 😭
— CelticsUnite (@CelticsUnite18) June 21, 2024
While some individuals might not have bothered to comment on this, Perkins did. On Monday, he called into 98.5 The Sports Hub’s, Felger & Mazz and blasted Scalabrine for not speaking to him on the matter.
“Right now I feel like Scal is a coward,” Perkins said. “Okay? Because if you go publicly to say something like that, and I reach out to you privately, at least call me back.”
“Was I the only 2008 member missing from the duck boat? No, I wasn’t,” Perkins stated. “[Eddie] House, my guy, he was there. Leon Powe, great friend of mine as well, he was there. Scal was there and Paul [Pierce] was there. There was still 11 other guys missing.
“And to be honest with you, if I would’ve got an invite, which I didn’t — I didn’t know we was supposed to — but anyways, nine times out of 10, I would’ve turned it down,” Perkins continued. “It’s not because I don’t have love for the city of Boston, because I do. It’s not because I don’t have love for the organization, because I do… But that’s not our moment. That’s 2024′s moment. Let those guys have their moment.”
(starts at 0:41 mark):
2008 NBA Champion @KendrickPerkins joins us
Calls @Scalabrine a coward for not returning a phone call. Says he loves the city of Boston, the Celtics including Wyc, Pags, Sam Cassell, Jeff Twiss, Grande, Max. Also loves @EncoreResortBH @mikefelger @TonyMassarotti @bigjimmurray… pic.twitter.com/UJ1XVGdnZG
— James Stewart ☝️ (@IAmJamesStewart) June 24, 2024
Perkins stated that he had closed the Celtics chapter of his life after the organization traded him in 2011 to the Oklahoma City Thunder. The 39-year-old added that he closed the basketball chapter itself too and is fully focused on his media career.
Perkins also responded to the notion that he isn’t welcomed by the Celtics, by making it clear he never went knocking at that door either. He claimed he didn’t know the organization held such a stance if that was true.
As for why the Celtics might not welcome Perkins back with open arms, it might well be down to how critical he has been about the team since becoming an analyst at ESPN. He hasn’t exactly shown a soft spot toward the team that he spent the first seven and a half seasons of his career with.
Kendrick Perkins Was Extremely Critical Of Celtics Head Coach Joe Mazzulla
Among all those involved with the Celtics, the individual whom Perkins has seemingly been most critical of, is head coach Joe Mazzulla. Following a loss to the Denver Nuggets earlier this year, Perkins took shots at Mazzulla on NBA Countdown.
“The philosophy of we’re going to get up more threes than you. And when they do, and they hit them, he looks great,” Perkins said. “And then you have the other Joe Mazzulla, who just stands over there, and you wonder, like, if you take his brain out and you put it in a bird, the bird is going to start flying backwards. Okay? You got that Joe Mazzulla. You know why I say that? Because he doesn’t get these guys easy looks.”
After the Celtics won it all, though, Perkins did admit he was wrong. He praised Mazzulla, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Brad Stevens on X.
“I didn’t believe they could get it done with Joe style of play. I thought that Tatum and Brown couldn’t do it together. They proved me wrong and 16 years later after I help deliver Banner 17 this Celtics team just completed the mission in dominating fashion to bring Banner 18 to the City of Boston. Much Credit to Brad Stevens for putting this all together.”
It doesn’t look like this statement was enough to get Perkins back in the good graces of the Celtics. At this point, I doubt things will ever get better. Perkins will continue to not have a filter when he speaks on television and will inevitably be critical of the team at some point in the future.
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