Kendrick Perkins Tears Into Rudy Gobert, Says He Regrets Defensive Player of the Year Vote

Perkins blew up on the four-time DPOY winner on ESPN Tuesday.

Rudy Gobert during Game 3 against the Dallas Mavericks / Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

In what has become an annual postseason tradition, Rudy Gobert is firmly in the crosshairs of NBA analysts everywhere.

With the Minnesota Timberwolves down 3-0 to the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference Finals, Gobert has bore the brunt of the criticism for his team's failures so far this series. Additionally (fair or not), his inability to guard Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving one-on-one has many questioning the Defensive Player of the Year award he won this past season.

Kendrick Perkins took both doubts to their logical extremes on Tuesday's edition of First Take, absolutely ripping Gobert for his postseason woes and proclaiming that the Timberwolves center has "tarnished" the DPOY award. Furthermore, Perkins stated he regrets casting his vote for Gobert to win this past season.

"Me voting this season for Rudy Gobert (for Defensive Player of the Year) is an embarrassment for me," Perkins said. "He's the first player that we see every single time in the postseason that becomes a defensive liability. Don't come giving me these analytics, don't come giving me these plus-minus stats because that's the most overrated stat in the NBA.

"When I look at Rudy, when I look at Rudy, he has tarnished the Defensive Player of the Year award. He has. He's not respected by his peers, we saw what happened to him in the Denver series, he couldn't even guard the person at his position. Karl-Anthony Towns did a better job at that. What is he doing right now? When you look at this series right now, do you understand, do we realize that Rudy has three blocks in three games? He's averaging one block per game at 7-foot-3. Unacceptable to say he's a four-time Defensive Player of the Year."

.@KendrickPerkins goes OFF on Rudy Gobert 👀

"He's the first player that we see every single time in the postseason that becomes a defensive liability. ... He has tarnished the Defensive Player of the Year award." pic.twitter.com/XqOLCtPIqB

— First Take (@FirstTake) May 28, 2024

Through the first three games of the WCF, Gobert is averaging 12.3 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 1.0 steals per game to go along with his block per contest that Perkins mentions.

It is quite the diatribe, and Perkins' feelings are clearly strong given he was willing to bash himself so hard for voting for Gobert. It would make sense if other voters shared his feelings given Gobert allowed Dončić to hit the game-winning three-point attempt in Game 2. No matter how good of a defender he might be otherwise, Gobert is going to receive criticism when the other side's best player scores on him in isolation to win a playoff game.

However, this does illustrate why Gobert's legacy is so complicated. No matter what Perkins might say, he is undeniably one of the best rim protectors in NBA history. He averages 2.1 blocks per game for his career and turned into such a deterrent that in all four seasons he won Defensive Player of the Year he didn't lead the league in blocks. The sign of a great defender is how often opponents choose to give up rather than try to score on them and that isn't reflected in the block numbers. Gobert is better than almost anybody in the modern era at that— in the regular season.

Which is the kicker. Playoff games are so different from regular season games that it's nearly a different sport. Gobert's lack of offensive effectiveness outside of offensive rebounding in tandem with his struggles to defend quicker opponents off the dribble means he just is not as valuable as more versatile defenders in the postseason. His rim protection is still a boon, and one Minnesota needed to make it this far.

But the drop from DPOY-level defender to merely a great defender is stark when the player in question has tied a record for most Defensive Player of the Year awards won. It makes everybody question if Gobert really was as valuable as he seemed in the regular season. Which ultimately should not matter because those awards are for the regular season and have nothing to do with the games that come after.

But it does matter, unfortunately for Gobert. No matter how good he is in the regular season, the audience does not forget what happens when the lights are brightest. It's always been hard for the French big man to shine in those moments and it makes him an easy target when his team isn't winning.

All that is to say, Perkins' outburst may not be the last we hear from voters about Gobert's place in the history of the Defensive Player of the Year award.