The Boston Celtics have been one of the NBA's most impressive teams this year. It's hard not to root for them, as their resilience in the face of such adversity makes them so endearing. Perhaps the biggest twist amidst all their surprising success is that they have a fan that goes by the name of Kendrick Perkins.
Following their impressive victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder, Perkins recently went on record stating that he believes his former team will return to the NBA Finals.
Kendrick Perkins says the Celtics are coming out of the Eastern Conference:
— NBA Courtside (@NBA__Courtside) March 26, 2026
“It’s no other team in the East has the experience of those guys, they check all the damn boxes. When it comes to if you need a guy to takeover in a 7 game series, Jaylen Brown is here to say I belong in… pic.twitter.com/7deYYkBxqe
This is some great sentiment from Perkins. Plus, it's far from the first time he's given Boston props this season, but anyone who knows where he stands with the Celtics and their fans knows it's too little too late for what he's trying to do: make up for the harm he did to his rep.
For anyone who's forgotten, Perkins burned bridges with his former team and their fanbase because of the lengths he went to in order to piss them off.
Look, criticism is fair and comes with the territory of being in the NBA, but in Perkins' case, he went too far a few too many times, calling Joe Mazzulla a bird-brain and constantly finding ways to criticize the pairing of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
It wasn't simply criticism. It was disrespect.
No matter how outlandish his takes were, the intention behind his rhetoric was to divide. He got what he wanted out of it - nationwide attention - but he didn't seem to understand the immense damage he was doing to his relationship with the Celtics (or he did and just didn't care). It wasn't just that he was one of their biggest critics. It was how he was doing it that irked everyone, even Tatum.
Normalizing uplifting one man without bringing another one down… JB played great it’s alright to leave it at that https://t.co/hC2mGhNljQ
— Jayson Tatum (@jaytatum0) January 9, 2022
So when they won the title, Perkins had done enough for them to exclude him from the championship parade. Apparently, Perkins was surprised by this and made a big stink of it, even though he had very clearly rubbed the organization the wrong way.
The bridge can't be rebuilt, no matter how hard Perkins tries
Perkins is very clearly backtracking after spending years throwing his former team under the bus in the hopes of getting clicks and comments. It's an earnest effort to get back in the good graces of the Celtics and their fans, but this is one of those examples of not getting to have your cake and eat it.
He said what he said because he did what ESPN wanted him to do. He has mastered the art of saying completely ridiculous things so that everyone would tune in. Somehow, he didn't count on how what he was doing was going to come at the expense of his reputation with the Celtics. It's gotten bad enough that his praise has only made fans roll their eyes.
But honestly, why does Perkins even care at this point? He's getting way more attention now than he ever did as a player. He was the Ringo Starr of the Celtics' 17th title (and that might even be an insult to Ringo), but as an analyst, he's now getting commercial deals and sponsorships that never would have come his way when he played. What does it matter how the Celtics or the fans feel about him?
He can praise the team all he wants. It won't do him much good.
I think I speak for all Celtics fans when I say, Nice try, Perk.