The Boston Celtics raised their 18th banner at the TD Garden on the 22nd of October before kickstarting the 2024-25 campaign. The Big 3 of their last championship win from 2008, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen, were present at the arena to celebrate the Celtics’ success. However, another popular squad member, Kendrick Perkins, wasn’t in attendance.
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His absence raised questions among fans on the Internet. Weeks later, The Sun claimed in a report that Perkins wanted to be there, but the franchise didn’t allow him. As per the report, a current player in the organization claimed that the NBA player-turned-analyst has been unfair in his criticism of the team and the franchise.
That’s why the ESPN analyst was deprived of the honor.
The player told The Sun, “The hatchet won’t be buried anytime soon, and the respect for him is below zero since those comments and most of us don’t even want to hear about him as he said things that were not justified and that were bad, and felt like throwing s*** at our faces, disrespecting our work and the whole organization.”
When a snippet of the report from 30th October was posted on X, Perkins responded to it to set the record straight. He claimed that he didn’t ask the franchise to be invited for banner night in the first place.
The 39-year-old wrote, “Sounds like you’re WRONG. This is completely False. I never had plans on attending Banner night and I’ve never reached out to anyone in the Celtics organization about attending banner night. Happy Sunday and Carry the hell on…”
Sounds like you’re WRONG. This is completely False. I never had plans on attending Banner night and I’ve never reached out to anyone in the Celtics organization about attending banner night. Happy Sunday and Carry the hell on… https://t.co/perTK3fRki
— Kendrick Perkins (@KendrickPerkins) November 3, 2024
The fact that Perkins responded to the report suggests that there is some animosity between him and the franchise. Big Perk did question the Celtics on ESPN after ever little falter in their dominant 2023-24 campaign. Therefore, it’s not unlikely that the Celtics organization has taken offense to that rhetoric, especially coming from a former player.
Cedric Maxwell sides with the Boston Celtics
Perkins has often been criticized for delivering harsh, sometimes unnecessary criticism of teams and players. Therefore, Cedric Maxwell understands why Boston wouldn’t invite him to banner night.
On The Cedric Maxwell Podcast, he said, “The organization could not have been happy with some of the things Perk said. You and I are broadcasters, always, in some ways, people are telling us. ‘What you said might have been said differently.’ And me more than any because I work for the organization.”
Maxwell revealed that he has been advised to tone down his criticism in the past as well. Any organization would be expected to protect their players, coaches, and reputation from harsh criticism. Therefore, Perk’s snub was not surprising for Maxwell.
