After the Boston Celtics won the NBA Finals and the logistics of the championship parade were in order, it was made clear that Kendrick Perkins wouldn’t be invited to join his former teammates from the 2008 championship team on their own Duck Boat.
Perkins, who was the starting center for the ‘08 championship team, now works for ESPN and has made some overly critical comments of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, head coach Joe Mazzulla, and the Celtics as an organization.
Two years ago, he criticized Tatum during a game that Brown had a triple-double, which pulled a response from Tatum. He’s also been an advocate to split up Tatum and Brown after losing to the Miami Heat in 2023.
This past season, Perkins took a shot at coach Mazzulla, calling him a “bird brain” after the team lost a game to the Denver Nuggets. This also pulled a response from Mazzulla.
In the middle of the Celtics winning the Finals and their parade, former champion and now broadcast analyst for NBC Sports Boston, Brian Scalabrine, said on his radio show that Perkins wouldn’t be welcome in Boston, saying it’s not an “open-arms thing” with Perkins.
“No, no, no, no, no, no. Big scarlet letter. … It’s not really an open-arms thing with Kendrick Perkins.”
Perkins heard what Scalabrine said and called into 98.5’s Felger & Mazz to get some things off of his chest regarding his former teammate and team.
“Right now, I feel like Scal is a coward. If you go publicly to say something like that, and I reach out to you privately, at least call me back.”
Perkins went on to explain that he would’ve turned down the invitation even if he was invited because he doesn’t want to take away from the great moment of the 2024 Celtics team.
“Was I the only 2008 member missing from the duck boat? No, I wasn’t. E-House, my guy, he was there. Leon Powe, great friend of mine as well, he was there. Scal was there and Paul was there. There was still 11 other guys missing. And to be honest with you, if I would’ve got an invite, which I didn’t — I didn’t know we was supposed to — but anyway, nine times out of 10, I would’ve turned it down… that’s not our moment. That’s 2024’s moment. Let those guys have their moment.”
Although I don’t agree with Perkins with many of his Celtics related takes, I will say that the only former players at the parade were people who currently work for the team in some capacity- Leon Powe is the team’s ambassador, Eddie House works for NBC Sports Boston with Scal, and Paul Pierce has been around with the team all season.
It’s not like there was the entire championship team on the Duck Boat and Perkins was the only one left out.
Perkins, however, has dug himself into a hole over the last few years with Celtics fans for his takes on the team, but as he said to Felger and Mazz, he sees nothing but love from the fans when he’s in the city. He also mentioned a few times that he is “friends” with Wyc Grousbeck and Steve Pagliuca.
Hopefully the feud with Scal and Perkins will defuse and they can “carry the hell on”, as the tension within that ‘08 championship team seems to continue to grow long after all of their playing days.
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