Because there aren’t any new sports going on, re-litigating and reflecting on what happened during past sporting events has become a quarantine pastime. This has especially been true for the Warriors, who have been at the center of a Kevin Durant related story seemingly every other day.
The content de jour, however, has to do with a former teammate of Durant, now ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins, who holds the distinction of being one of the few NBA players to have ever had an on-court conflict with the generally agreeable Stephen Curry.
To reset the scene, the two got into it during the 2018 Finals, when Curry ran into a suited-up Perkins on the Cavs bench, leading to an exchange of words between the two due to Curry’s belief that Perkins intentionally tried to knock him over.
Perkins told his side of the story on ESPN on Thursday, claiming that since he never moved and Curry ran into him, he shouldn’t be at fault. He also revealed what he supposedly told Curry during their spat.
“First of all, I don’t know what I did wrong,” Perkins recalled. “Right? I’m sitting down. I didn’t move, I didn’t do nothing. I’m sitting down, chilling, right? I’m minding my business. We’re getting beat, he’s doing his thing.
“He said that I tried to trip him. I’m like, ‘Bro, I didn’t move my legs. I didn’t stick my leg out. I was sitting the same way the whole time. What are you talking about?’ And I was just like — you know what I told him? I said, ‘Steph, man. Chill out, man. For real, before I make you smell my cologne.’ ”
The counterargument here would be that Perkins was sitting with his legs wide open, and didn’t move because he wanted Curry to run into him, knowing by not moving he’d have plausible deniability. That’s assuming you’d want to have an argument about something this pointless.
Perkins wanted to make it clear he wasn’t trying to hurt anyone.
“I go to extreme measures to try to win, but I would never try to take anyone out,” Perkins said Thursday.