Acrimony has existed between ESPN star Stephen A. Smith and Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James for a while now, but Smith isn’t the only talking head on the network who has had some unfavorable words for James lately.
James’ former teammate on the Cleveland Cavaliers Kendrick Perkins recently admitted that when the NBA’s oldest active player unfollowed him on X back in June of last year, he blocked James’ number on his cell phone. James unfollowed Perkins after the latter accused the former of making Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving’s moment about him ahead of Game 1 of the 2024 NBA Finals.
Several of Perkins’ former teammates on the Cavaliers such as big man Kevin Love, big man Tristan Thompson and guard J.R. Smith have since ganged up on Perkins on Instagram. Perkins responded in the comments.
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Unlike Love, Thompson, James and Smith, Perkins wasn’t a member of the Cavaliers team that captured the first title in franchise history in 2016. He spent the 2015-16 campaign with the New Orleans Pelicans and averaged 2.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and 0.8 assists per contest across 37 games played.
But the Cavaliers did advance to the NBA Finals in his first season with the team. He played in eight games for Cleveland during the 2015 NBA Playoffs, and the Cavaliers defeated the Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls and Atlanta Hawks in the first three rounds of the playoffs to earn the opportunity to represent the Eastern Conference in the championship series.
While Perkins never won an NBA title playing for the Cavaliers, he climbed the league’s mountaintop back when he suited up for the Celtics in the earlier stages of his career. He served as a defensive anchor for the Boston team that won the 2008 title. Perkins started all 25 of the games he played in with the Celtics during the 2008 NBA Playoffs and averaged 6.6 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game in that span.
Maybe Perkins will continue to exchange comments with his previous Cavaliers teammates on Instagram in the coming hours and days. If nothing else, Perkins has proven that he makes his voice heard, regardless of what opinions people have on what he has to say.
Tristan Thompson says crazy fan followed him home after 2016 Cavs championship
The entire city of Cleveland was in a frenzy following the team’s epic 2016 NBA championship. LeBron James and the Cavaliers rallied from a 3-1 deficit against the Golden State Warriors to win the series 4-3.
Thompson was a huge part of the run, and he recently claimed that a “car followed me home.” It turned out to be an older man in his 60s or 70s who was simply a superfan that wanted to take a picture with the newly-crowned champion.
The Cavs big man claimed that he would’ve “knocked him out” if he were younger, but since he was an older man, he let “gramps” slide.
