Comedian Gary Owens appeared on the latest episode of the Road Trippin’ podcast where he asked co-hosts Kendrick Perkins and Richard Jefferson to name the cities that Black NBA players don’t like going to. Jefferson hilariously refused to answer the question, but Perkins did.
“A lot of people don’t like going to Oklahoma City,” Perkins said. “… I played there, so it was cool for me, but a lot of my teammates, they hated it. They was like, ‘How long we gonna be in this truck stop a** city?'”
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Perkins played for the Oklahoma City Thunder from 2011 to 2015. He had no issues staying in Oklahoma City, but his teammates did. Perkins didn’t give out any names, so there’s no way to know who he was referring to.
You get the feeling, though, that players nowadays might not be in a hurry to leave Oklahoma City. The Thunder are the 2025 NBA champions, and their biggest stars have all signed extensions this offseason.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander agreed to a four-year, $285 million extension with the Thunder in July. Later in the month, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren agreed to five-year deals potentially worth up to $287 million and $250 million, respectively. The Thunder are going to remain a force in the years to come, and players might not be all that averse to going to Oklahoma City to team up with these stars.
Getting back to this podcast, Owens also asked which city NBA players, in general, didn’t want to go to. Perkins’ answer shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.
“You don’t want to go to Utah,” Perkins stated. “… S*** close down at like 9. It’s like a ghost town, whether it’s a weekend or not. One time we had to spend like three days in Utah, and I went out. It was with ‘Big Baby’ Glen Davis.”
Glen Davis suggested that he and Perkins go to a club, much to his surprise. When they got there, he realized it wasn’t really a club. It was a bar and they only served beer. Perkins also spotted NBA referee Bill Kennedy at the bar and realized he should go back to his room.
Perkins never played for the Utah Jazz, but Jefferson did in the 2013-14 season. He stated there was nothing much to do in Utah, but he did praise the Jazz fans. They regularly showed up at the arena to support the team back then, despite them being awful (25-57 record).
Jefferson also listed his favorite cities to play in, which were New York, Miami, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Toronto. As for Perkins, well, he explained why he didn’t have a problem going anywhere.
“It wasn’t hard for me to be pleased in any city ’cause I was going to do the same thing anyway,” Perkins said. “I was going to find the best steakhouse there. And if they had a casino there, I was going to go play poker all night.”
Perkins previously admitted to being a gambling addict at one point, but he fortunately got over the addiction. The 40-year-old claims to have completely stopped gambling now.
