Ex-Boston Celtics big Kendrick Perkins makes surprising choice for his top PG: 'No disrespect to Steph, SGA'

Former championship-winning starting Boston Celtics center Kendrick Perkins doesn't believe Golden State Warriors legend Steph Curry or OKC Thunder MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander are the best point guards in the NBA right now. Instead, if he had the choice to build a team around a single 1, he'd choose NY Knicks floor general Jalen Brunson.

A necessary caveat: Perkins seemed to indicate that he doesn't believe Brunson's former co-star, Luka Doncic, is a point guard.

“I wouldn’t take one, nobody,” Perkins said (h/t NBC Sports Bay Area). “And it’s no disrespect to Steph Curry, it’s no disrespect to SGA, but I’m not taking anybody over Jalen Brunson. Didn’t you see him handing out 42 pieces [points]? Did you hear what Mike Brown said about Jalen Brunson as far as the attention and the details they had to put around him?

“Did you hear what Draymond Green said after Jalen Brunson went to Golden State and worked them? When it comes down to being a floor general, there’s no other player in the game outside of Luka [Dončić]… What he’s doing for the New York Knicks despite all the injuries, I can’t say enough about it. Right now, he is the best point guard in the game in my opinion.”

Ex-Boston Celtics big Kendrick Perkins off his rocker with Jalen Brunson pick

Perkins is off his rocker taking Brunson over a proven winner like Curry or an all-around threat like SGA. There's no denying Brunson's ability to set the table and win games for his team, but his limitations on the other side of the floor put him behind SGA -- and come playoff time, it's possible Curry proves he's still a winner despite the dysfunctional franchise around him. His one dimension is far more conducive to winning than Brunson's historically.

Brunson singlehandedly carried the Knicks in the 2023 postseason, so this isn't to say the former NCAA Champion point guard at Villanova isn't a winner himself. But placing him No. 1 based off regular season success is a bit premature.