Former Oklahoma City Thunder teammates Serge Ibaka and Kendrick Perkins suddenly have beef after some odd comments Perkins made on television.
Perkins was discussing the stakes facing the Boston Celtics a year after losing in the NBA Finals, and compared it to his experience playing with the Thunder.
He pointed out that many believed the young Thunder would eventually get a title even after losing in the 2012 NBA Finals, but that the team never made it back and eventually split apart.
Perkins’ point was lost, however, after he made a strange comment suggesting that Ibaka had been lying about his age.
“You know what everybody kept saying? ‘Oh, Kevin Durant is only 23 years of age, Russell Westbrook is only 22, James Harden is 22, Serge Ibaka is 21, although he was probably 30 at the time because we already know how certain individuals lie about their age. But we’re not about to get into that.”
Perkins’ remark does not come out of nowhere. It was reported several years ago that some teams believed Ibaka was several years older than his listed age, which presumably led to the comment.
Ibaka, now with the Milwaukee Bucks, wasted little time responding to Perkins on Twitter, blasting his former teammate in a series of tweets.
Ibaka said he did not mind criticism of his play, but remarks like the one Perkins made are “disrespectful.”
Ibaka even went as far as to brand Perkins a cheater, and argued that Perkins got his job on ESPN by “breaking the locker room code and by spreading lies about two of his former teammates and brothers like KD and Russ.”
Perkins responded by claiming his comment was a joke, and that Ibaka needed to stop being so sensitive. He then threatened to expose Ibaka for some unnamed locker room conduct.
If it was a joke, it certainly did not come off well. The questions about Ibaka’s age had largely died down after he initially responded to them in 2017.
Part of that is because, as Ibaka notes, the 33-year-old he would be pushing 40 if he were a few years older than listed. It’s easy to see why he would not appreciate that being brought up again, even in jest.
Perkins has alienated a lot of his former teammates since entering the media. Ibaka is hardly the only one, but Perkins seems to have made it part of his brand.
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