Former NBA player Kendrick Perkins has made several enemies since transitioning to the sports media world. But he was no stranger to getting under the skin of his opponents during his playing days as well. Another player who likes to talk smack to people during games is Warriors star Draymond Green. Therefore, it was no surprise when the two got into a heated back-and-forth during Green’s rookie season.
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However, Green didn’t have the reputation or experience to counter Perkins’ words at the time. So NBA vet Jarrett Jack, who was with the Warriors back then, came to Green’s defense, silencing Big Perk with some good one-liners.
Green revealed the interaction on The Draymond Green Show with Baron Davis, where he and his co-host were recalling their best trash-talk moments in the NBA. Although Green has been in many heated exchanges, the incident with Perkins came to his mind instantly.
He told BD, “Jack only gonna come in at the point where it’s like, ‘Hey man enough!’ So Jack is finally like, ‘Yo bro [to Perk], you keep talking over here like play the game man.’ And Perk start talking junk to Jack and he mentions his contract.”
“I think at the time Perk had just signed 4 [years] for $32 million if I’m not mistaken. Again, at the time is big money… Jack was like, ‘And people make mistakes every day!'”
This quick rebuttal shut KP up for a while. The 2008 NBA Champion had an easy time flexing in front of the Dubs rookies before they won four Championships. But Jack had seen enough of the NBA in his career to shut that down.
At the time, Perkins was a member of the Thunder and instrumental in their Western Conference dominance. His efforts earned him a four-year $32 million contract, which at the time was huge money in NBA terms.
Jack spent just the 202-13 season with the Warriors, but impacted the young core tremendously. Green learned skills for the court and for trash-talking his opponents from the veteran. Now he’s masterful in the art of trash-talking and doesn’t need anyone to come to his defense, especially when talking to someone like Perkins.
Draymond and Perkins’ trash talking
Nearly 12 years following their first experience of trash talk, Green and Perkins still have back-and-forths with each other. However, none of it is face-to-face, since Perkins is in retirement.
The two infamously went at each other in October after Perkins’ bold take stating Clippers star Kawhi Leonard should retire. Green didn’t agree in the slightest and ripped Perkins for the take.
“To hear Perk say, ‘Yeah, he needs to retire, he needs to consider retiring,’ I thought that was crazy,” Green said. “Because Perk, in his last three years in the NBA, nobody was pushing him into retirement, and everybody probably should have.”
Green isn’t always the only one firing shots though. After the Warriors star’s hard foul on Grizzlies’ big man Zach Edey, Perkins believed Green deserved a long suspension for his acts.
These are just a few examples of the relationship the two have and there’s bound to be more instances to come in the future.
