“Blowing a 3-1 lead against the Warriors and joining them, will always be held against Kevin Durant”: Kendrick Perkins on why KD is not an all-time top 10 player

During a recent episode of SLAM NBA’s No Pump Fakes Podcast, Kendrick Perkins spoke about why he doesn’t consider Kevin Durant as an all-time top 10 player.

As the NBA turns 75-years old, the No Pump Fakes Podcast invited Kendrick Perkins to discuss the top 75 players of all-time in the NBA. Big Perk had LeBron James as his GOAT over Michael Jordan, which is contrary to popular belief.

Nonetheless, one of the most surprising parts of the former champion’s list was the absence of Kevin Durant in the all-time top 10 players. Recently, sports giants ESPN and Bleacher Report released polls for the best player in the NBA currently, both had Durant as no. 1, going into the 2021-22 season.

Thus it comes as a surprise that Perkins doesn’t even place KD in his top 10 players of all-time. Hosts of the podcast Ahmad K Smith and Theus Mcbee quickly jumped in, questioning Perkins for this bold ranking.

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However, Big Perk had done his homework and come. Siding with the popular notion, Perkins stated that blowing a 3-1 lead and consecutively joining the Warriors would always be held against Durant.

Kendrick Perkins justifies not having Kevin Durant in his list of all-time top 10 players.

Perkins had no doubts regarding the capabilities of KD. Big Perk addressed Durant as the greatest efficient scorer of all-time, adding that the four-time scoring champion still has a long way to go. Perkins spoke about the two-time champion and Finals MVP always playing on stacked teams.

Big Perk ranked Durant no. 15 on the list of all-time top 75 NBA players. The panelists on the podcast seemed surprised by Perkin’s evaluation of Durant. However, Perkins would clear their doubts by saying the following.

“No matter what, this is always going to be held against KD. It’s fair or not people are always going to talk about him blowing that 3-1 lead to the Golden State Warriors and the year going join them the following year. He chose that but this is always going to be on KD. This is always going to be held against his legacy until he wins another one or do something different.”

Perkins was referring to the 2016 NBA WCF, the time KD played for the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Thunder had a 3-1 lead over the Warriors. Unfortunately, OKC would end up losing the next four games. The following off-season, Durant would sign with Dubs, who was coming off a 73-9 season.

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Though Perkins might be right with his analysis, not having KD in his top 10 list doesn’t look right. Despite joining the stacked Warriors, KD bought them two championships and was Finals MVP in each case.