ESPN analyst and former Thunder player Kendrick Perkins went on JJ Redick’s podcast, The Old Man and The Three, recently to talk about historical Thunder moments and his insight into them.
Perkins played for the Thunder from 2011 to 2015.
Some of the moments discussed include the 2012 James Harden trade, why the 2010s Thunder never won a title and the artificial relationship between Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook.
Let’s take a look at the full quotes from Perkins as he sat down and opened up about his time with the Thunder. Quotes are edited for clarity. The full video can be watched below:
2012 James Harden trade
“I thought who’s the most selfish guy in the world. I really did. Like I wrote James a big ass text message, like a long ass message, and I just went off I was like, ‘bro you selfish as hell like man, we got a chance to do some special like lose my number m—–f—–.’ I’m cussing him out and everything. He responded and said, ‘it’s all good man. I got a lot to worry about right now. I got to carry this team.’ That was his response, but I was hurt because I didn’t want it to like — at that point already knew I’m not making any All-Star games — I’m a role player and I already had accepted my role. And so when James left, I didn’t understand it at the moment because I was thinking about myself and trying to win more championships. This young man was nothing but 23 years old. Trying to go accomplish making the All-Star game, trying to go get $100 million with his contract, trying to go make $100 to $250+ (million) with his shoe money. And here I was being selfish, not thinking that he had individual goals and s–t that he wanted to accomplish and I should have been supporting that.”
Sam Presti forcing Harden’s hand
“What happened was Sam Presti actually gave him until 12 o’clock. I remember — it was like a Wednesday. He was like, ‘you got until 12 o’clock to sign this.’ I believe it was like the $64 million extension… James was like, ‘I want the max.’”
LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony influencing James Harden
“But what ended up happening was when James, KD and Russ all went to the Olympics, and they won a gold medal, everybody like LeBron, DWade, Carmelo was gassing up James saying, ‘you need your own team.’ And they weren’t gassing him — they were right. He…
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