After NBC Sports Boston analyst and former Boston Celtics role player Brian Scalabrine claimed fellow 2008 champion Celtics player Kendrick Perkins has a “scarlet letter” within the organization and is excluded from the team’s “open door policy” with former players, Perkins appears to be pretty frustrated.
In an interview on The Mark Jackson Show released Tuesday, Perkins gave his side of the story and explained why he’s “pissed” at Scalabrine. While Perkins acknowledged he has criticized this era’s Celtics teams in the past as an analyst at ESPN, he also detailed why he does not have the same allegiance to Boston that other former players might.
“I heard (Brian) Scalabrine the other day, and I love Scal, but he pissed me off,” Perkins said. “I never said I wanted to come. It wasn’t my moment, or 2008’s moments. It was 2024’s moment. Let them their moment.”
Perkins owned up to doubting the Celtics’ top players after their NBA Finals loss in 2022 and questioning whether a young, unproven coach could lead the team to a title.
“I’ve been one that’s been one of the biggest advocates for Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown since they put the world on notice back when (Tatum) was a rookie. And my thing is over the past couple years, they’ve had their letdowns,” Perkins said. “So the criticism, it was warranted. It wasn’t like I was just making it up. As far as Joe Mazzulla, I didn’t believe that his system could get it done.”
Perkins also echoed past comments from Kyrie Irving leading up to the NBA Finals, in which Irving referred to the Celtics organization as a “cult” and chided the team for demanding respect and allegiance from players.
“Now I have nothing to say, I mean congratulations to them,” Perkins said. “But the thing is, Boston fans, they expect you to be married to them for life. Like a sense of entitlement, like you owe them your life. And that’s just not the case.”
Perkins told Jackson he has not been back to Boston by personal choice since the team traded him away in 2011. Perkins also played in the NBA Finals with Oklahoma City in 2012 and Cleveland in 2015, meaning he had success away from the Celtics.
Of course, Perkins is also a lightning rod for controversy. Nobody has gone so far as to release receipts here yet, but Scalabrine certainly appeared to believe Perkins was ostracized from the team. Does it go further than criticism on ESPN?
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