SI

Draymond Green–Kendrick Perkins Feud Gets Nasty, Ugly, Personal

Also in Traina Thoughts: MLB announcer gets unfiltered; Aaron Judge’s only bad move; NY media feud heats up and more.

Jimmy Traina

1. Draymond Green wanted attention and Draymond Green got attention.

It’s been 11 days since the Warriors became world champions, but instead of enjoying a well-deserved celebration, Green is still spending his time calling out media personalities for who knows what.

On his latest podcast, Green went after ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins and got personal.

“It is the smallest edge that wins someone the NBA Finals,” said Green. “And because of all these dumb talking heads that never done it, they don’t understand it, even the one that has done it don’t acts like he’s done it because he’s an idiot and a moron and wasn’t really that good of a player. I’m talking about Kendrick Perkins, by the way.”

“Idiot” and “moron” were actually two of the nicest things that Green called Perkins.

“Kendrick Perkins, you act like this clown [Skip Bayless] and it is baffling to me because he could never be you,” continued Green. “Do you know why he could never be you? Because he has never done it. You go around acting like him. You don’t have to do that buddy, you played. You did it, go talk about it. Or can you not? I hope that you can. With all these hot takes you make, you should be able to. You don’t have to act like that man. You went from being an enforcer to a c--n, how does that happen? At least you acted like an enforcer, I never took you for one.”

Perkins got wind of Green’s nasty remarks and absolutely unloaded on the Golden State forward in an intense two-minute response.

“Hey, Draymond, you good?” asked Perkins before building up to his verbal smackdown. “What the f--- wrong with you? Didn’t you just win your fourth championship? What the f--- you worried about me for? You mad? You mad cause I’m doing it my way and it’s happened to work? I’m doing it my way. I ain’t gotta do it your way. I’m doing it MY way.

“Forget the old media, forget the new media. I’m gonna stand by the old law. And the old law says, ‘Hey, man, all that disrespect and hoe s--- of calling somebody a c--n, man, you got me f---ed up. Ain’t nothing c--n about me. Ain’t no c--n, none of that, straight up.’”

“Here’s the thing. We all know, Dog. We all know. You’re all bark and no bite. We know this. The NBA brothers know this. A lot of them are talking behind your back with the whispers. They know this. They know you’re not gonna do nothing. This is proven. This is fact. Stop with all the tough talk.

“You can talk about me as an ESPN analyst, you could talk about my takes, you could talk about everything you wanna do. I don’t give a f— about that. But what you’re not gonna do, you’re not gonna disrespect me and call me a motherf------ c–n.

“And I’m gonna stand on that. You talk about standing on something. I’m standing on that. That’s what I’m not gonna be, especially by you, when we all know you’re not gonna do nothing.”

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Among all the name-calling there between the two guys, Perkins scored the biggest dagger by revealing that NBA players are talking trash behind Draymond’s back. Clearly, that will lead to yet another response from Green.

The question is whether Perkins will keep this going because at some point, ESPN will get involved and tell Perkins to watch what he says on social media.

Perkins is also giving Green the attention he’s craving for his podcast, which normally isn’t the wisest move, but we can’t fault Perkins for defending himself here.

2. When Bryce Harper got hit by a pitch that ended up breaking his thumb Saturday night, Phillies analyst Michael Bourn was in no mood to worry about words he isn’t allowed to say on TV.

3. Aaron Judge made his first mistake of the season Sunday. After blasting a game-winning three-run homer against the Astros, Judge gave his bat to Spike Lee. It would’ve been nice to see Judge give the bat to a kid in the crowd instead of a celebrity who can afford to buy an autographed Aaron Judge bat with no problem.

4. I tried to find video of Clayton Kershaw giving this quote about Freddie Freeman, so I could get tone and context but came up empty. But on its own, this is a pretty fascinating quote about a teammate.

5. My fellow New Yorkers will be happy to know the longtime Mike Francesa–Phil Mushnick feud rages on. 

Mushnick wrote a column over the weekend pointing out that the last three major winner predictions that Francesa has given out all failed to make the cut at those majors.

The headline on the story said: “Mike Francesa hits embarrassing trifecta of woefully wrong betting picks.”

A snippet from Mushnicks column read: “That’s right, Sitting Bull, now heard as a gambling tout on a podcast—despite his claim that he’d never sink so low as to host one—touted Brooks Koepka to win the Masters, Scottie Scheffler to win the PGA and Cameron Smith to win the Open. Win? They all missed the cut! Didn’t even make it to the third round!”

Francesa then responded via Twitter by calling Mushnick a liar.

What makes this great is that Francesa once famously said of Twitter, “You will never, ever see me utilize that medium. Ever.”

6. The latest SI Media Podcast features a conversation with ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt.

The SportsCenter host talks about the adrenaline rush of doing live postgame shows after the NBA Finals, his back-and-forth with Draymond Green about “new media” vs. media and Steph Curry’s likability. Van Pelt also shares his thoughts on LIV golf and explains the various issues that LIV faces as they try to get off the ground.

Other topics covered with Van Pelt include why sporting events need more singalongs, why betting baseball is bad, the best James Corden “Carpool Karaokes,” why it’s still taboo to admit you do something for money and much more.

Following the conversation with Van Pelt, Sal Licata from WFAN and SNY in New York, joins Jimmy for the weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week, the guys break talk about whether they could still work for a company they sued, a la Sage Steele, The Athletic’s “no politics” Twitter policy and the state of stand-up comedy

You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify and Google.

You can also watch the SI Media Podcast on YouTube.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: In honor of Sunday’s Angels-Mariners brawl, which was a good one, we present a baseball fight that doesn’t get the attention it deserves. May 22, 1988, Dodgers hitter Pedro Guerrero throws his bat at Mets pitcher David Cone.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.

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Jimmy Traina
JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.

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