For a long time, hazing was a rite of passage on collegiate and professional teams. Some of it is harmless and in good fun, but a lot of it crosses the line. Thankfully, the worst parts of hazing have mostly been eradicated as time has gone on.
Kendrick Perkins was a rookie back in 2003, back when hazing was still a thing. Big Perk joined All the Smoke this week, and he shared a hazing story about Gary Payton, who joined Perkins’ Celtics for a year toward the tail end of his Hall-of-Fame career.
Perkins described how he had “rookie duties” for guys like Paul Pierce and Ricky Davis that included picking up cigarettes and beer, but his craziest hazing story occurred in his second year, when he thought he was in the clear, but new arrival Payton thought otherwise.
“I was like, ‘Hell yeah, man, I’m finally done with these f***** rookie duties, I ain’t gotta do this s*** no more,'” Perkins remembered. “And he was like, ‘Oh no, you’re still a rook, you’re a rook until you play your first NBA game.'”
Perkins hadn’t played much in his rookie season, though he did get on the court for 10 games. Apparently that didn’t count though, either because Payton wasn’t there to see it since he was with the Lakers at the time, or because it didn’t meet his arbitrary criteria. “You’re mine,” Perkins remembered him saying.
He made Perkins iron his suits on road trips, but that was small potatoes compared to what he made him do when the team flew to Milwaukee for a game against the Bucks. “Hey ugly,” Payton said (Perkins said that was Payton’s name for everyone). “Man, I need a bottle of Patron.”
There were a few problems with Payton’s request. Perkins, who was drafted by the Celtics straight out of high school, was only 19. Also, it was 2 in the morning in Milwaukee, so his options for alcohol procurement were extremely limited.
“I found a club in Milwaukee, a bar that was open,” Perkins recalled. “They’re giving me problems because it’s 21 to get in, right? So I’m 19, so now I gotta pay the bouncer like $500 to let me in. I’m on my rookie deal, so everything matters to me at this point, I’m counting all my per diem and everything.”
These days, everybody recognizes Perkins, but that’s because he played for 14 seasons and is on TV all the time now. Back then, it was a different story.
“They don’t really know who I am, because I’m not getting any playing time at this point, so they don’t know who the f*** I am,” he said. “You’re just big and black to them,” Matt Barnes offered.
Perkins was already $500 in the hole just to get in the door, and when he asked to see the owner of the club, he found out that he wasn’t done being taken advantage of.
“I’m like, ‘Hey bro, I’m Kendrick Perkins, I play for the Celtics, I’m here, Gary Payton sent me, I gotta get a bottle of Patron,’ so you know the tax coming with that, right?” he recalled asking. “So he was like, ‘Look, I’ll give you the bottle of Patron, man, and everything for like $800!'”
What choice did Perkins have? He’d already come this far, so he paid the man and got the bottle.
One might expect some gratitude for shelling out $1300 and going on a scavenger hunt through Milwaukee at 2 in the morning, but one would be wrong. After suffering the indignity of getting in a taxi in front of the club, which Perkins said was hopping, he finally was able to complete his mission.
“I get back to the hotel,” Perkins said. “I go knock on his door, he opens the door and tell me, ‘Appreciate you, ugly,’ and close it. No reimbursement, no tipping, no none of that s***, bro. I was so hot and he still hasn’t gave me my money, or a tip for that s***. If I bring it up to him to this day he gonna just laugh about it and be like, ‘Man, you know you my guy,’ but damn,” the former NBA champion joked.
As one of the best defensive point guards of all time, Payton was famous for stealing the ball from opposing players. He’s fifth on the all-time steals list with 2,445, behind only John Stockton, Chris Paul, Jason Kidd and Michael Jordan. But after hearing Perkins’ story, it looks like he should have one more added to his total.
