The countdown to NBA Opening Night took a wild turn when Kendrick Perkins made a bizarre comment that left ESPN host Elle Duncan lost for words.
Perkins was a guest on SportsCenter ahead of the season-opening clash between the defending champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder, and the Houston Rockets.
Duncan opened a segment on the league’s season tip-off by making a pun about Perkins’ nickname (Perk), saying on camera, ‘You know, when you work at ESPN, talking to Kendrick is one of the Perk-s.’
The NBA analyst let out a laugh before continuing into the segment. But at the end of it, Perkins decided to drop a pun of his own.
‘You ready for this one?’ Perkins asked. ‘Oh God, OK,’ the host said before Perkins cracked a joke about painkillers – Ibuprofen and Percocet – and his own nickname. ‘What you need Ibuprofen for when you can have a Perk?’ he asked.
The 40-year-old, a former first-round pick in the NBA draft, then leaned back in his chair while Duncan fell silent for several seconds out of cringe.
Kendrick Perkins made a bizarre comment that left ESPN host Elle Duncan lost for words
‘What you need Ibuprofen for when you can have a Perk?’ he asked before leaning back
Other guests on the show eventually burst into laughter before Duncan said: ‘I literally can’t stand you and I love you.’
The Thunder and the Rockets kicked off the new NBA season before the Los Angeles Lakers face on the Golden State Warriors later on Tuesday night.
LeBron James will miss the game due to an injury but that did not stop Stephen A. Smith from reigniting their war of words earlier this week.
During a conversation with the Lakers star’s friend and former teammate, Carmelo Anthony, Smith said their feud actually dates back to the 2010s.
‘I don’t like his a**, not a little bit,’ the ESPN star told Anthony’s new podcast, 7pm in Brooklyn. ‘This dates back more than a decade.
‘I’m not going to go into detail of the s*** this man has tried to do to me,’ Smith continued. ‘People don’t understand. You do not understand the lengths this man would go to. You know, I believe he’s one way publicly, he’s another way privately.’
Asked if James tried to get him taken off the air, Smith said: ‘I’m not going there, figure it out. ‘Cause I’m not going to find myself in a position where it can get uglier.’
The James-Smith famously erupted back in March when the Lakers hosted the New York Knicks with Smith on hand. It was during the third quarter of that game where James was caught confronting Smith over the ESPN host’s criticism of his own teammate and son, Bronny James.
