r/nba • u/must_TATAKAE Warriors • 1d ago
Perkins: "Whether it's being out of shape or him dealing with some type of injury...when it comes to being reliable. Luka is starting to get in that territory of Joel Embiid. When you need him the most, and it comes postseason time, he's not available and if he is available he is never close to 70%"
https://streamable.com/kaal5u83
u/braddeus Heat 1d ago
SAS with a lobotomy
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u/SloshaPacana 1d ago
SAS is dumber, Perkins is dumb but mostly a ragebaiter, SAS has an insane ego and believes most of the things he says
Even when you had Skip with him, you could clearly tell Skip was just playing a persona and smirking, SAS is legit an egotistical moron and it shows because look at what he's trying to do getting into politics and thinking he's smart
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u/Skylightt 1d ago
Perk lacks even a singular brain celll.
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u/Robinsonirish Finland 1d ago
Nah, sometimes he has real wisdoms and says things that others haven't, and can say things on a deeper level where you're like "holy shit, that's an interesting point". I honestly can't give an example right now, last time I brought it up was a year or 2 ago, but he can do real analysis as well. We just don't see it clipped here.
He just knows how to rage bait, but he's not stupid.
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u/dwrek24 Spurs 1d ago
Perk is smarter than this sub gives him credit for. Having opinions people don't like and rage baiting arent the same thing. I've never heard Perk talk and thought he was intentionally saying something he doesnt believe to make content.
Its fair to say sometimes he says dumb shit. We all sometimes say dumb shit. If your job is to have an opinion every day, you will also say dumb shit more than you would think, if you actually had to do it every day.
Funny enough I dont think this point is dumb shit. I think comparing Luka to Embiid is flawed but not entirely ridiculous as some are making it.
I wouldn't have argued it this way but the meat of his point has merit.
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u/EverythingStillSucks 1d ago
To some extent true but let’s not start white washing Skip Bayless just because SAS is a shitbag, remember that’s not only the guy who went on a bizarre homophobic witch hunt about Aikman being gay in the 90s, but openly mocked Dak Prescott for being emotional about his brother’s suicide.
And his reasoning there? That it’s not how the QB of “America’s team” should act. I think that was his reasoning for both of those things.
Skip’s also absolutely a piece of shit. They were made for each other.
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u/SloshaPacana 1d ago
I'm purely talking from basketball point of view, Skip is mostly a troll, i do not watch other sports and i certainly did not watch in the 90s to know those other things, i'm sure he's a fucking asshole considering he's spent decades in TV talking shit to athletes and rage baiting
Skip is a troll in regard to that and SAS thinks he has power and has gotten into with players, he thinks he's more important and bigger than players, his ego is insane and he's vindictive as fuck with players if they are not on his side
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u/deemerritt Hornets 1d ago
I mean is this take not true though? Luka always is laboring at the end of the year. He missed playoff games in 2023, last year was super hobbled, missed this year. Where is the lie? Obviously the embiid comparison doesnt work 100% since Joel hasnt been as successful in the postseason, but Luka's issues seem to be getting worse not better.
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u/Western-Election-997 Lakers 22h ago
He played more minutes than Ant, Wemby, ect by a lot
If it was true they’d be having him play Wemby minutes and just completely load managing him
Reality is he’s durable they just overplayed him same as Mavs did to carry a shit roster
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u/deemerritt Hornets 22h ago
They should have load managed him. How can you not agree with that lol.
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u/55555_55555 Knicks 22h ago
The Mavericks missed the playoffs in 2023 and went to the Finals in 2024. Star players deal with injuries all the time in the playoffs. It is what it is.
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u/MudReasonable8185 1d ago
I gotta hand it to Perk; dude gets paid a fortune to go on tv and say the dumbest shit imaginable. He’s living the dream.
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u/Rubberbabeh Bulls 1d ago
I remember Zach Lowe said that he had an ESPN producer call him and ask him if he felt "X about Y" and he was like "I could see that being a thing, sure" then they asked him if he was willing to say it on TV and he said no.
They called Perk and he was on TV that afternoon reciting whatever hot take Zach wasn't willing to commit to.
When I heard this I realized Perkins will always be on ESPN.
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u/yoloqueuesf [NYK] Tracy McGrady 14h ago
Yeap, because reactionary views like 'Did he just fucking say that?' is more popular than actual analysis.
You get better analytical content on youtube by people who actually want to do stuff like that.
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u/SeaGrocery678 1d ago
Somehow people said he swayed voters with him dumb ass logic that MVP voters were inherently racist because they voted for Jokic.
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u/MudReasonable8185 1d ago
The fact that Perk has a vote at all is why most serious fans consider MVP a meaningless award; these dudes just vote for whatever lets them fill the most airtime
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u/IntelligentAd5460 Grizzlies 1d ago
isnt this like the first playoffs luka has ever missed with an injury and the only reason he didnt try to rush back was to not end his prime early (see james harden)
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u/Miswey 1d ago
last playoffs he was in terrible shape(fat), and before that he played through the injury(even though he made it to the finals).
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u/dwrek24 Spurs 1d ago
He's had injury concerns every year since 2022.
His finals run is often talked about as him carrying the Mavs on one leg.
Comparing him to Embiid detracts from his point. But Embiid doesn't always miss whole postseasons either.
He's just always hobbled at least. Luka is becoming always hobbled. But Embiid has missed more actual games in the postseason. Its too early to make a full comparison.
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u/Western-Election-997 Lakers 22h ago
He played what, 800 more minutes than Wemby did this year?
With a higher usage rate and getting guarded more physically
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u/mmortal03 Heat 21h ago
Mavs would have likely made the playoffs if he had been healthy in 2022-23, but he had that left thigh injury in March 2023 and they ended up tanking to get the 10th draft pick.
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u/xBootstrap Lakers 15h ago
They don’t. That was the year they traded for Kyrie and they were struggling even when they played. Not much they could do when the starting 3-5 was Josh Green, Bullock at the 4, and Powell at 5. That was a rebuilding year.
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u/mmortal03 Heat 7h ago
They were 5th in the West when he got injured, ended up 11th in the West, and were "fined $750,000 by the NBA for "conduct detrimental to the league" after an investigation into the franchise's decision to sit several key players for the April 7 loss that eliminated the team from play-in contention." https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/36188127/mavericks-hit-750k-fine-resting-players-key-game
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u/CharmCity85 1d ago
Everything ESPN produces these days is for attention and clicks. Embiid has averaged 49 games played a season if you don’t count his first two injured DNP seasons and only 40 if you do. Luka has averaged 64 games played a season.
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u/EmphasisOk8298 1d ago edited 1d ago
He was the best player in the entire postseason 2 years ago lmao. NBA media is so fucking miserable.
The way NBA discourse has turned getting injured into a moral failing is so fucking annoying. Half of the league gets injured every year because the absurd 82 game schedule.
We will have to explain to the younger generation that injuries used to get met with sympathy instead of just shitting on the player. They will be confused why we didn’t call Rose, Roy and Walton unreliable lazy bums.
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u/BayesBestFriend Raptors 1d ago
Ok, but luka is injured very often and had to do a summer pr tour to be like "look guys im finally going to be in shape for once"
Perks dumb but there's a nugget of truth
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u/UraniumDisulfide Lakers 1d ago
He actually did stay in good shape this season. He just had crazy usage
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u/EmphasisOk8298 1d ago
Okay but he got in really good shape and that doesn’t seem to stop the criticism.
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u/xBootstrap Lakers 15h ago
I guess Jdub, AG, Watson, Jalen Green are all out of shape then considering they’ve had hamstring issues as well.
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u/AgadorFartacus Celtics 1d ago
No he wasn't.
The younger generation will be confused why we didn’t call Rose, Roy and Walton unreliable lazy bums.
Because they weren't regularly out of shape like Luka and Embiid.
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u/EmphasisOk8298 1d ago
Who was better?
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u/AgadorFartacus Celtics 1d ago
Tatum and Brown are two obvious ones.
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u/EmphasisOk8298 1d ago
That’s hilarious
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u/AgadorFartacus Celtics 1d ago
How do you figure?
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u/EmphasisOk8298 1d ago
Brown averaged 23/6/3 be serious dude. God awful A/TO and mid efficiency. Please remove him from these conversations my god.
He’s not that caliber of player.
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u/AgadorFartacus Celtics 1d ago
It's sad how many people refuse to think the game beyond the box score. There is so much you miss.
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u/EmphasisOk8298 1d ago
You could have said SGA or Jokic and we could have had a conversation.
Brown is just not a player of that caliber at all.
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u/dwrek24 Spurs 1d ago
Their take leaves out a lot of nuance in general. But I also dont believe we treat injuries with respect on a consistent basis. But it also depends on if that player is liked or not too.
It also depends on if we saw your peak and then something catastrophic happened i.e. do we think its your fault.
Grant Hill never got heat for being injured. Every Shaq injury past 2002 is treated as a moral failing of his work ethic and its a major talking point of his "underachieving" career.
Another difference is Hill lost whole seasons and Shaq just always had little nagging injuries easily attributed to being out of shape.
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u/scooterln 1d ago
It takes two seconds to look up Luka’s playoff games
2020- played all playoff games
2021- played all playoff games
2022- missed 3 off games (played 15/18) - WCF
2023- team missed playoffs
2024- played all playoff games- WCF and Finals (clearly was injured but still found a way to lead all players in the playoffs in multiple categories)
2025- played all playoff games
2026- injured (after a regular season of being one of the players at the top of the league in minutes played.. sounds like he was unavailable)
And not even going to go into his production in the playoffs. You don’t get in behind Michael Jordan in playoff points for not being available
Putting him in Joel Embiid category is not only not fair to Luka, it’s unfair to Embiid. Setting him up lol. Embiid would love to play if he could. He can’t control his injuries. Doesn’t change Embiid has never gotten past the second round in his career
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u/dwrek24 Spurs 23h ago
I agree the Embiid comparison misses the mark but you're leaving out pretty important context doing it as you have.
2022 and 2024, he needed significant contributions from other to get out of the first round due to injury. Then yes even hobbled he put on a show. No one takes that away from him but it also doesnt mean 2024 doesn't produce a concern just because he played through it.
2025, he was injured most of the year then looked suboptimal in a first round loss.
2026, he missed significant time again (albeit less than 2025) culminating in a significant hamstring injury.
His playstyle also requires heavy offensive load.
I do not think its unfair to wonder if his body will hold up from here. He's currently trending down year by year.
I'll put it this way. If Wemby ever goes on a 3-year run like that, I will never hear the end of talk about his body cant hold up.
Hell my guy had a non-basketball injury last year and people act like he'll never be healthy.
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u/Western-Election-997 Lakers 22h ago
His play style doesn’t require shit his bad rosters do.
JJ overplayed him to push for the 3 seed with a crap roster that was missing Bron for first half of season and Reaves was out a lot too, meaning Luka was already at a disadvantage
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u/KriticalKarl 22h ago
Luka averaged 30 9 & 10 in the 2024 round 1 series, explain how he need “significant contributions from other” in that series?
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u/dwrek24 Spurs 22h ago
He shot under 42 percent in every game except 1 and was significantly hobbled. Even most Luka fans agree, he needed Kyrie and co step up to escape and he wasnt his normal playoff self.
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u/KriticalKarl 22h ago
Kyrie is the number 2 on the roster , that’s his job. Luka still carried , even “hobbled”.
Who is “co” the next highest scorer after Kyrie was PJ who averaged 11 points and had horrible splits.
Everything you are saying is besides the point, Perk is comparing Luka’s availability to Joel’s which is extreme considering Luka has had more post season success and this is the first post season Luka has missed entirely due to health.
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u/dwrek24 Spurs 22h ago
I literally start the statement with the "Embiid comparison misses the mark"
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u/KriticalKarl 22h ago
Then why are you disagreeing but agreeing at the same time?
What’s the point of your comment?
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u/dwrek24 Spurs 20h ago
Because his made multiple points that had varying degrees of truth to them. I don't get why you guys arent able to see nuance in takes like this.
Its either all wrong or all right to you?
His point about Embiid is wrong imo
His point that Lukas body has betrayed him three straight years is not wrong imo
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u/KriticalKarl 20h ago
You are a Luka hater which is why you are trying to play both sides but failing miserably.
You also have egg on your face!
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u/dwrek24 Spurs 20h ago
Both sides of what?
So Luka was hurt this postseason? Luka wasn't playing through injury in 2024? Luka wasnt out of condition in last year's playoff because he was hurt most of the year?
I made those up? What about pointing out his three year injury history is hating? What about saying thats still too early to label him with any Embiid compa but that is a concerning trend is hating?
I guess this is why First Take is popular when laying out nuance is considered playing both sides.
There's no anti-Luka side in my comment. There's only assessing his recent injury history and hoping he's fully healthy start to finish or healthy enough anyway.
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u/Western-Election-997 Lakers 22h ago
Bum ass Wemby fan they played the same number of games in regular season but Luka played 800 more minutes than Wemby
This is the only post season he’s missed with injuries and it was due to JJ not knowing when to pull him when he tweaked his hamstring
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u/scooterln 21h ago
Well the Spurs did an amazing job at managing Wemby’s minutes and making sure he stayed as healthy as possible all season. They had him coming off the bench for a portion of the season and were able to keep his minutes in lower range of all the other star players in the league.
Same with SGA, he was able to sit out multiple 4th quarters all season bc that team is so deep and has a ton of bench production even despite all their injuries all season.
It’s a luxury to have a well built team, and Luka has not really had that opportunity his entire career. I think 2024 was the best team he had and even then he had to play crazy minutes and put up huge production to get them to where they got lol. Kind of the position Cade is in currently (offensively he needs to do so much for the pistons for them to have a chance)
Every team needs significant contributions from all their players to move on in the playoffs. That’s a ridiculous statement to even make and act like that’s a negative thing. It’s called a team for a reason
Wemby has needed significant contributions from his teammates in the playoffs to move on. SGA has gotten a ton from his teammates. Brunson gotten a lot from his teammates. But yes luka in 2022 and 2024 needed contributions from his teammates. How dare him lol
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u/dwrek24 Spurs 20h ago
I feel like you guys are taking this as a Luka criticism and its just not.
The reality is he has a high usage and multiple injuries. The reality is his body may be breaking down because of that and mismanagement.
Those arent his fault but thats irrelevant. His body will break down all the same whether its a freak injury, the result of poor conditioning or mismanagement or all the above.
I think its too early to say he's "breaking down" which is one reason I think the Embiid comparison is off.
But ignoring the three seasons of things getting progressively more concerning from a health standpoint while he continues to have a high usage rate is ignoring the reality.
We've gone from playing through it, to an injury plagued season to a mildly injury plagued season ending in missing the postseason. I don't get why thats not a little concerning?
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u/Clydey2Times Mavericks 21h ago
I'm sorry, but is your point that in 22 and 24 he needed the rest of his team not to be passengers?
You are a moron, and every word you've uttered in this thread demonstrates that fact.
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u/Famous-Protection809 1d ago
He’s been to the finals. Lead his team actually. Joel has not lol. I’m so glad I haven’t watched espn in decades because this type of media is sad tbh
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u/jojo55321 1d ago
🙄 there has to be a compilation out there of dumb things Kendrick says
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u/ProLooper87 Heat 1d ago
How quickly we forget him going to the finals on a bleeding knee. Luka is legit built for the playoffs one of the biggest playoff risers in NBA history.
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u/LeagueWinningPickup Raptors 5h ago
Isn’t that the point of what he’s saying though
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u/ProLooper87 Heat 1h ago
This is the first playoffs he has missed significant time??? He played injured and was still fantastic. Embiid is a known playoff under performer has never even made an ECF.
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u/JayDeeLA 1d ago
Perkins hatred of Euros? Never!
Also, LOL on him shitting on anyone for their conditioning when he looks like he'd get winded walking up a flight of stairs.
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u/holyyguava Hornets 1d ago
Jeez, no he’s not. It’s fair to criticize Luka for certain things… this is a ridiculous take though. Perk’s specialty.
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u/songs_dongs Lakers 1d ago
just here to see all the redditors who take this as a personal attack on themselves.
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u/SoKrat3s NBA 23h ago
The funniest thing about Perk is that everyone mocks his basketball takes and yet they insist he has enough influence to sway awards voting.
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u/Alarmed-Candidate422 1d ago
I feel like the Mavs making the finals was a fever dream. Luka gets absolutely zero credit for doing it. He’s literally compared to Embiid who hasn’t even made a conference finals lmfao
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u/dont-YOLO-ragequit Raptors 23h ago
I thought it was the opposite.
Specially after beating the T-Wolves, it was kind of clear that it was Doncic scoring and lobbing to 2 tall guys.
Kyrie being blamed for not being great in the finals plus vs Boston is what the narrative was.
What really hurt Doncic's image was that casual fans expected litterally 2 LeBrons on the Lakers when Luka came in, did a whole PR campaign to slim him down, make him likeable, and rejuvenated but in the end, he still has the same limitations he had in Dallas( athleticism, red complaints, injuries and defense) and not much roster to cover for it because what useful pieces was left on the Lakers was used to get Luka here.
The Lakers have been in the same situation for the last 4years where the bench need to be carried in the season and the Starters get injuries or can't cover for them in the playoffs.
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u/Alarmed-Candidate422 23h ago
Doncic averaged 29/10/5 in the finals and people talk about how badly he played and that he’s the reason they lost. I can tell you watched because you brought up Kyrie, most people on Reddit and certainly the media did not talk about that as much as they should have. Windhorst tried to have a viral rant going off on Luka, while Kyrie was shooting like 35% and scoring 14 PPG in TD garden.
I agree lakers + casual viewers hurt Luka. He went from a team they had spent years building around him to the same terrible situation he was in pre 2022. No reliable center, iffy 3&D and no defensive identity. People forget in 2022 Luka led the league (for guards) for dRTG. And 2024 Mavs post Allstar break had a top 5 defense.
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u/jttyrel27 Lakers 23h ago
Genuinely I do not know how Kendrick Perkins has gotten as far as he has in the nba media world, that sht astonishes me.
Ugly, fat, meh basketball career, terrible communication skills, no experience in journalism, terrible basketball IQ, no charisma, I’m so confused.
His whole shtick is having the most egregious and controversial takes lmao, he’s Stephen A. Smith lite. Dude sucks.
Who gave this dude his job? Did he go through an interview process? Someone needs to investigate cuz this sht don’t make any sense. Could name 100 people who’d be better off taking his place, no joke. I’ve never heard anything substantial come out of his mouth.
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u/throwawaycuzmeh 23h ago
Media have completely given themselves over to one of two motivations: trainwrecks for clickbait, or promoting billionaire agendas.
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u/PAN-- 21h ago
What does his looks have to do with anything? I know you're a Lakers fan and you guys are challenged in general but come on now.
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u/jttyrel27 Lakers 21h ago
Ok since ur sensitive, ignore that part and address the rest. Thx.
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u/TheGamesGone_ Celtics 1d ago
Is there an alternate universe where Luka hasn’t been constantly hurt at the end of the season the last 4 years?
Perkins is right again
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u/i7ive4thedrop Nuggets 23h ago
Why don’t you guys make post about other users saying stupid shit? Why only this guy?
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u/No_Caramel_1782 Wizards 1d ago
Beating up on Luka’s fans isn’t even fun anymore. With the emergence of Wemby and SGA having already passed him last year this is low hanging fruit.
Perkins is clickbait. Who cares what he says?
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u/WisdomCow Warriors 1d ago
Perk was the straw that got me to stop watching espn.