Kendrick Perkins claims Donovan Mitchell got J.B. Bickerstaff fired: ‘You had no communication with that man’

Before the Cleveland Cavaliers hired Kenny Atkinson to be their head coach, J.B. Bickerstaff held the coaching reins of the team for several years.

Across four-plus seasons as Cleveland’s head coach, he helped put the team back on the map and make it competitive again following the departure of forward LeBron James. The Cavaliers never had a deep playoff run under Bickerstaff, but they reached the second round in the 2024 NBA Playoffs and made a pair of playoff appearances.

Despite a historically successful 2024-25 regular season and a new head coach in town (Atkinson), the Cavaliers’ stint in the 2025 NBA Playoffs ended in a similar fashion to the way it did in the 2024 NBA Playoffs with Bickerstaff, and now, former Cavs big man Kendrick Perkins is accusing guard Donovan Mitchell of getting his former coach fired.

“Donovan Mitchell, you got a coach fired,” Perkins said. “You got J.B. Bickerstaff fired. This is a fact. You had no communication with that man while he was there. You didn’t like him, right? Soon as he got fired, you got signed to a contract extension, right? You extended with the Cavs.

“Now, this is why I point that out because, see, trying to win a championship and going through the process of winning a championship, that s— ain’t fun. That s— is stressful as f—, right? … When you walk into practice facilities — and guess what — you may hate your coach that day because he’s bringing out the best in you or holding you accountable, right? J.B. Bickerstaff brought structure. He was trying to bring structure and accountability to that locker room to bring…the dog out of them dudes, right?

“We not sitting up here questioning whether or not Detroit is some dogs. We ain’t questioning s— about that. We know that they some dogs, and it started with J.B. Bickerstaff. I’m not sitting up here knocking Kenny Atkinson, right? But Kenny Atkinson gave them guys too much leeway of like, ‘Yo, it’s fun.’ No the f— it ain’t. It’s fun in the regular season. That s— stressful as hell in the postseason.”

Despite Perkins’ assertion, it’s seemingly far from a sure thing that Mitchell was responsible for Bickerstaff getting the boot following the team’s second-round exit at the hands of the Boston Celtics in 2024. Early on in the Cavaliers’ 2024-25 regular season, when Atkinson was still getting his feet wet, Mitchell seemed to indicate that he had let the organization make the coaching decision.

While the Cavaliers underperformed in the 2025 NBA Playoffs with Atkinson patrolling the sidelines, the Detroit Pistons arguably exceeded expectations during their stint in the playoffs, even if it was relatively short-lived.

The Pistons, despite being just one season removed from finishing with the worst record in the NBA, gave the New York Knicks (who are now going to the conference finals) a real run for their money in the first round this year. Detroit took New York to six games and nearly forced a Game 7, as the Knicks needed a game-winner from guard Jalen Brunson to pull away in the waning moments of Game 6.

It may be unfair for Perkins to load so much of the blame for Bickerstaff’s exit on Mitchell unless he has concrete evidence. However, the team’s decision to part ways with Bickerstaff may be worth scrutinizing in light of the Cavaliers flaming out in the 2025 NBA Playoffs and the Pistons enjoying an incredible bounce-back campaign with Bickerstaff at the helm.