Last year, we saw Kendrick Perkins’ back and forth with the Inside the NBA crew. Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal called the ESPN broadcaster a fool, roach, and even used his photograph as a target during their boxing drill. Mind you, this all was on live TV. Now, Perkins has picked up a beef with the Ringer founder, Bill Simmons, over the NBA media coverage. Seemingly in this rant, Cooper Flagg became a support that the Celtics star used as he continued taking shots at Simmons.

On his podcast, Road Trippin’, Perkins criticized Simmons in a not-so-subtle way for a now-infamous social media post by the latter. Perkins said, “My problem with you is who the f— gave you the keys and said you was the gatekeeper for the game of basketball?” Jeez! Shots fired! And Perkins wasn’t done yet, as he used Cooper Flagg’s example to prove his point.

“We saw so many people just like just feeling it. We saw the whole time of Cooper Flagg by the way, shout out Marty for going down there to Maine and visiting with Cooper Flagg’s people.” In the video, Perkins spoke about the emotional setting in the draft when those prospects’ dreams to play in the league come to fruition. ESPN’s Marty Smith was in Flagg’s hometown, Newport, in Maine to cover the reactions of the people who watched Flagg growing up. A NBA draft watch-party was organized at the Grove in Newport, in celebration of their local superstar joining the Mavericks as the #1 overall pick.

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“And getting, you know, just getting like you know, talking to the people about their relationships with Cooper. And not just as a basketball player, and how a great individual he is. That’s covering the game, that’s how you cover the game.” Perkins said, still firing shots at Simmons, who he previously called out as a gatekeeper.

What is the reason behind this beef between Kendrick Perkins and Bill Simmons?

A small spark can cause a huge fire. That’s exactly what happened between Kendrick Perkins and Bill Simmons. It all started when Simmons dismissed Perkins’ take Collin Murray-Boyles joining the Toronto Raptors. Perk had commented that with Murray-Boyles joining the Canadian side, they had all the pieces to be one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference. Simmons, rather calmly disagreeing decided to go on a full-blown rant. “I didn’t know which telecast to watch. It was like, do I take this samurai sword and jam it into my temple or do I take this chainsaw and saw my leg off? I couldn’t figure it out,” Simmons said. And that’s why ladies and gentleman, Perkins was jerked by Simmons’ comments.

But the storm was not over for Perkins. Instead it had just started. Perkins also received a barrage of criticism on social media for his comments. One user wrote, “This guy doesn’t even have his own pod to sling s— on talking about getting his own episode on Richard Jefferson’s pod 😂”. But Richard Jefferson, co-host of the Road Trippin’ pod alongside Channing Fyre, Allie Clifton and Perkins himself, came to NBA champ’s rescue.

“Perk is family at @RoadTrippinPod… we split dollars evenly ain’t that right @RealAClifton @channingfrye. Been that way since day 1. Everyone makes the same and carries the same weight. Ok, maybe @KendrickPerkins carries a little more 😈” wrote Jefferson in response. Roasting your friend while having their back is what friendships are all about. After the Celtics legend’s 12-minute rant, let’s see if Simmons ends this verbal war, or throws another punch.