Charles Barkley Rips Kendrick Perkins, Future Home ESPN

Charles Barkley and Kendrick Perkins are unlikely to be on each other’s Christmas card lists this year. 

Perkins is a veteran ESPN NBA analyst, and the Barkley-led Inside the NBA will be licensed from TNT to ESPN beginning next season. On Thursday night’s TNT program, Barkley took a number of potshots at Perkins and ESPN for how much they cover the Lakers and Warriors relative to the top-seeded Cavaliers and Thunder. 

“He said, the Lakers — first of all, the Lakers have had a great two weeks,” Barkley said, referring to Perkins, as covered by Awful Announcing. “He said the Lakers saved the NBA season. That’s because them fools on the other network, which we’re going to be working for next year, that’s all they talk about. Let me tell y’all something. And first of all, I want all the smoke. I don’t whistle when I walk by the graveyard or anything like that.”

Barkley, who has many times over the years ripped ESPN’s talk-show topic selection, continued to blast the network for its overemphasis on the Warriors and Lakers.

“Hey man, the Lakers are doing great,” he said. “Got a long way to go. But the reason the season’s been going great — the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Oklahoma City Thunder — y’all just want to talk about the Warriors and the Lakers. They’re both doing great. Don’t get me wrong. If I turn out to be wrong, I got no problem with that. But y’all are idiots ’cause y’all talk about the Lakers and the Warriors all the time. The Cleveland Cavaliers have won 12 straight games. Oklahoma City got the MVP and they are on fire. Y’all are talking about who’s in second place. That’s the reason I get pissed. Hey, the Lakers are doing great. I don’t mind being wrong. The Warriors are doing great.

“But that’s ’cause you fools on the other network, which we’re gonna become fools next year when we be working on that network, but Oklahoma City and the Cavs been balling for six months. Y’all talking about teams that had two great weeks.”

The Lakers and Warriors have both been hot since acquiring Luka Dončić and Jimmy Butler, respectively. 

Perkins responded in a post on X that indicated he’s up for a fight. 

“Hey @NBAonTNT might wanna tell that senior citizen Charles Barkley that I’ll be around,” Perkins wrote. “When he see an idiot or fool in person make sure he keep that same energy. He can come playing with me if he want to and imma Address his ass like the numbers on a house. Straight from the 409 homeboy and we bar none and fade all. #TexasBoy.”

This is not the first spat between Barkley and Perkins, who have been sniping back and forth for several years.