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On Monday, ESPN analyst and former NBA player Kendrick Perkins strongly suggested during an appearance on The Michael Kay Show that Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley don’t spend much time watching the game they cover for TNT.
“It’s obviously (that) they don’t watch basketball,” Perkins said. “I’m serious, they can’t watch basketball on a consistent basis. The only time they actually probably watch the Knicks is when they’re covering the Knicks on their game nights.”
Kendrick Perkins’ logic for that wild statement about Shaq and Barkley?
“If you’re watching the Knicks, there’s no way in hell you can downplay the way they’ve been playing the game of basketball,” Perkins said. “You’re watching the New York Knicks, there’s no way in hell you can downplay that Jalen Brunson has been the best player in the Eastern Conference. If you’re watching the Knicks, there’s no way you can downplay that Josh Hart has been one of the best rebounding guards in the league outside of Luka Doncic. If you don’t watch the Knicks on a consistent basis then you don’t know.
“Then you get a signature win against the Celtics and it’s like, ‘Oh, well, the Celtics, they were just teeing up and they are getting ready for the postseason.’ No, they actually played everybody and the New York Knicks made them tap out. It’s a difference. Guys that are downplaying with this Knicks coaching and Tom Thibodeau, they haven’t been watching them.”
The first to respond to Kendrick Perkins’ bizarre take was Shaquille O’Neal.
“Can a non Hall of Famer speak on two Hall of Famers, just asking?” Shaq replied on X (Twitter) to a post about what Perkins said about him and Charles.
can a non hall of famer speak on two hall of famers just asking
— SHAQ (@SHAQ) April 16, 2024
Ouch.
Later, just to pile on even more, while Shaq and Barkley were on TNT discussing Blake Griffin announcing his retirement, they showed him dunking on, you guessed it, Kendrick Perkins.
“We don’t watch Knicks games, but I watched that game,” Shaq said.
“Five point a game, gonna call me out?” Charles Barkley added, making the TNT crew chuckle.
Shaq & Chuck respond to Kendrick Perkins who said their Knicks takes show "they obviously don't watch basketball":
TNT shows Perk getting dunked on
Shaq:"We don't watch Knicks games…but I watched that game"
Chuck:"…out here killing roaches…5 points a game gone call me out?" pic.twitter.com/5PNWHS5VS2
— New York Basketball (@NBA_NewYork) April 17, 2024
In fairness to Kendrick Perkins, he averaged 5.4 points per game, not just five.