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Kendrick Perkins slams Brian Scalabrine, report he was banned from Celtics Banner Night
“To be quite honest, I don’t give a (expletive)."
Kendrick Perkins isn’t exactly a popular figure in Boston these days.
Despite helping the Celtics win a title in 2008 as the team’s starting center, Perkins has established himself as persona non grata at TD Garden as of late since becoming a basketball talking head on ESPN.
The outspoken pundit has directed plenty of his critical comments toward the Celtics over the years, be it dismissing Jayson Tatum’s standing as franchise star, criticizing Joe Mazzulla’s basketball IQ or declaring that “no one in the NBA is scared” of Boston in 2024-25 after winning a title.
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Given Perkins’ icy relationship with Boston, it wasn’t much of a surprise that he didn’t take part in the Celtics’ Banner Night festivities on Causeway Street last month.
While Perkins wasn’t in attendance, three other Celtics starters from that 2008 squad in Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen were all honored on the parquet floor.
But according to a report from the U.S. Sun, Perkins was outright “banned” from TD Garden for Boston’s banner raising, validating the sentiment shared by Brian Scalabrine in June that Perkins doesn’t have “an open-arms thing” with the Celtics anymore.
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Appearing on the “All The Smoke” podcast this week, Perkins was asked about the rumor that he wasn’t allowed to attend Banner Night.
Perkins didn’t mince words with his response, while also landing another shot against Scalabrine after calling him a “coward” in June.
“To be quite honest, I don’t give a (expletive). I don’t give a (expletive),” Perkins told Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes on the podcast. “I don’t give a (expletive) because here’s the thing, I never take winning the championship for granted. But they act like you have to be tied to that situation or that’s your life.
“It was an honor to play for one of the most historical franchises. I never take that for granted. I think what ended up happening was — well, I know — I said a take about Joe Mazzulla. They win the championship, and Brian Scalabrine, (expletive) Scal, he’s like, ‘Well, door’s not just open for him to come back to the Celtic organization.”
Perkins continued to punch back against Scalabrine’s comments from the summer, belittling Scalabrine’s role in Boston’s run to a title in 2008.
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“Now, it’s two things I took from that. One, Scal, who the (expletive) are you? You’s the same (expletive) that, when we won a championship, was in street clothes, hurry up and changed into your jersey so once we started taking pictures, you could know that you was part of the team,” Perkins said. “And I actually like Scal, but I thought that should have been a phone conversation.”
Fair to say, the next reunion for the ‘08 Celtics might be a bit icy.
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