In his illustrious career of over two decades, LeBron James has played with some incredible teammates. Even though he is considered a lone wolf, LeBron has had a lot of help from the likes of Dwyane Wade, Kyrie Irving, and Anthony Davis. While the question of who is LBJ’s best right-hand man, is debatable, Kendrick Perkins believes he has the right answer. On the recent episode of First Take, the former NBA star declared that AD is by far the best teammate LeBron has played with.
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Referring to the duo’s outstanding showing in the 2020 bubble season, Perkins said,
“That is LeBron James’ best running mate of his career. No other player in my opinion compliments him like Anthony Davis. When you think about that championship run, and yes it was a bubble run, look at the numbers that they were putting up. It was a match made in heaven.”
Kendrick Perkins says Anthony Davis is LeBron James’ greatest teammate of all time
“He should be in the MVP conversation every season.”
(🎥 @FirstTake / h/t @awfulannouncing )
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) June 7, 2024
LeBron’s impact on the court is obvious, but looking at what AD did in the 2020 postseason, it’s difficult to discard Perkins’ take. According to Stat Muse, Davis averaged 27.7 points with 9.7 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.2 steals, and 1.4 blocks, per game.
His shooting percentage was off the charts too with 57.1% from the field and 38.3% from the three-point line. More importantly, Perkins believes that AD fulfills his role as a big man very often when playing alongside LeBron.
Based on these, the former NBA star stated that AD should be in consideration for the MVP and the DPOY titles every season. The ‘best teammate’ take is not new for Perkins as he has always believed in AD.
He reminded the other panelists on the show that when he tweeted the same thing in 2020, D Wade responded to his tweet with, “I agree Big Perk.” Wade might not have a problem, putting AD above everyone, but that isn’t the case with Stephen A. Smith.
Stephen A. Smith trashes Kendrick Perkins’ take
Stephen A. Smith seldom hesitates while giving his two cents and Big Perk got a taste of it following his take on AD. SAS said, “If I put an A-List of your worst takes in your career here at ESPN… This might be your worst take ever.” Smith has never been a big fan of what AD does on the court; one way or another, it reflects on how he talks about him.
Right at the beginning of the season, he was dismissive of AD and the Lakers’ chances of winning a trophy this season. Even though they ended up failing as a unit, at the time, SAS stated that Davis and his second-half failures were “atrocious” and “trash” and that it would cost them another opportunity to go for the title.
To his credit, what he predicted, ended up becoming a reality. But the blame can’t be put on AD alone, it was the team that failed to compete for the championship.
