On the latest episode of the Road Trippin’ podcast, Kendrick Perkins and Channing Frye ripped into Michael Porter Jr about his controversial take on NBA gambling. In his take about the NBA, Porter Jr also mentioned how often NBA players get death threats today. This did not sit well with Perkins, who called out Porter Jr. for his comment.
“And on top of that, stop with the bullsh** death threats. I got death threats. I got attacked by the barbs… And it wasn’t in my DMs. Them mother****ers got my phone number. They were sending me text messages.”
“But here’s the thing. Let me say this. They have this thing called NBA security. Michael Porter Jr., use it. ESPN has ESPN security. Let me give y’all a story.”
Perkins goes on to narrate how his criticism of Giannis Antetokounmpo in 2021 during the NBA Finals made him face death threats as well. But instead of making a fuss over it, Perkins chose to take action into his own hands with his employers, ESPN.
“So, the Milwaukee Bucks are playing for the championship against the Phoenix Suns, right? And I’m on television and I’m going on my thing of you know Khris Middleton-Giannis, who’s the Batman who’s the Robin, because at the time I’m all in on Khris Middleton. I’m talking about you know, Khris Middleton, back then money-making Middleton.”
“So I started getting a death threat, and it was going like to my wife’s account and stuff like that. And this dude was sending me threat after threat after threat. ‘I’mma kill your kids. As soon as you get there, I know where you stay. I’mma murder you.’ Like this is real life.”
“So I’m like, man, like I ain’t got time to be playing like this. So I tell ESPN. ESPN, go and do digging. They locked the mother***er up. They found the dude and locked him up. This is a true story.”
“And he was like, ‘No, no, I wasn’t serious.’ He was like, ‘No, mother***er, like, you’re going to jail. Don’t play like that.'”
“So, Michael Porter Jr., if you’re watching this, they have this thing called NBA security. If you feel threatened, you’re under a multibillion-dollar company is what you work for. You will be okay, young fella.”
Kendrick Perkins has an issue with players playing the victim card with death threats instead of doing something about it. From injuries to death threats and life-threatening diseases like Diabetes, Perkins has seen various forms of adversity in his long career in association with the NBA world, first as a player, then as an analyst.
Earlier this summer, he equated the death threats players got in Bill Russell’s era to mental health problems that players face today. Now, Perkins’ advice to Porter Jr. is to either take action with the NBA against the death threats or ignore them.
There is no need to create a public narrative about it when a multi-billion-dollar company like the NBA is standing behind you to help in case you face a serious adversity like death threats.
