Draymond Green rips Kendrick Perkins for openly admitting that he wished for LeBron James to suffer an ACL injury heading into Game 7 of the 2008 Finals.
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LeBron James in his first stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers was a different breed of player. From 2003-2009, the 6-foot-9 forward averaged a staggering 27.8 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists, and 1.7 steals per game. Bron was so incredibly talented that in the first 7 years with the Cavs, he had 6 All-Star selections, 6 All-NBA selections, and 2 MVPs, among a whole other bunch of accolades in his cabinet.
The younger version of The King was a freak of nature. LBJ was so far superior from the remaining players of the game that his opponents would literally wish for him to suffer a horrific injury rather than face him.
Recently, Kendrick Perkins openly admitted how he hoped that James would sustain an ACL injury before the Cavs and Celtics met in Game 7 of the 2008 NBA Finals. Perks stated on JJ Redick’s “The Old Man and the Three” podcast:
“I ain’t going to lie, man, I was scared as hell going into that Game 7 against LeBron James. This was the only time that I actually prayed that something happened to him at practice. … I was like, ‘Let us get breaking news that LeBron tore his ACL or something. I did, bro, I’m not even lying. I’m not even exaggerating. You can’t edit this out, this is real! That’s how terrified I was of LeBron.”
“I kept saying to myself, ‘Man, we ain’t getting past this mother[expletive]. He coming in here and he’s going to beat us. I was like, ‘This is just a different dude right now.’ I was scared.”
Also Read: Draymond Green blasts the analyst amidst a turmoil of vitriol amongst journalists and players
“Stop making a fool of yourself”: Draymond Green on Kendrick Perkins’ comments
GSW star Draymond Green absolutely ripped into the analyst for his questionable confession. On the recent episode of his “Draymond Green Show”, the 4-time NBA Champ attacked the former Cs big man:
“Are you kidding me? You actually thought that was OK to admit? Come on, cuz. You can’t think that’s OK to admit. Even if you felt that way—which, by the way, why do you feel that way? That’s a problem. But even if you feel that way, take that to the grave, my man.”
“There was once a point in time where ACLs was ending people’s careers. You remember this is how we feed our families?” Green said. “We always talk—I don’t know if you do, because it’s not much substance—we always talk about, when you get hurt, you leave the court, you live that. You don’t leave the court and it’s like, ‘All right, I’m not hurt anymore, I can walk now. But when the game’s going on, when practice is going on, I’m back on crutches.’ Like it’s a video game. No, you really live this stuff.”
“So, for you to pray on another man’s downfall, that’s a character flaw, my man. If you pray on somebody’s downfall once, you’re gonna pray on it again. That’s a little wack to me. That’s not new media. I don’t understand. You don’t have to go on TV and go act like that, brother. You played. Act like it. Stop doing this. Stop making a fool of yourself.”
To be fair, even though the comments were made out of respect for LeBron’s dominance, we have to agree with Dray here. Seems rather cruel to admit that you had prayed for a fellow player to sustain a career-ending injury.
