Veteran Houston Rockets forward Kevin Durant has fired back at Kendrick Perkins for saying Durant’s “legacy” will be on the line when he faces LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round of the upcoming playoffs.
Earlier this week, Perkins warned that Durant could ill afford to lose to James, especially given that the Lakers will start the series without Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves — their two leading scorers in the regular season.
“KD, you better not let a 41-year-old LeBron James-led team beat you in this series. Damn it. They’d better not get two games. Real talk,” Perkins told ESPN’s “NBA Today.”
“This is more about Kevin Durant and why he was brought to Houston.”
Lakers Under No Pressure
Perkins, Durant’s teammate for several years in Oklahoma City, highlighted that the Lakers were under no pressure to beat the Rockets in the first round of the playoffs.
“At this point, the Lakers are playing with house money,” the 2008 NBA champion said, previewing the Lakers-Rockets series. “Nothing to lose, everything to gain. This is all about the Rockets. This is all about Kevin Durant. This is a legacy moment for KD.”
Perkins then recounted Durant’s runs with the Brooklyn Nets and Phoenix Suns, both of which ended acrimoniously amid trade demands.
“A disaster in Brooklyn, a disaster in Phoenix,” Perkins said of Durant’s recent years.
“All of a sudden, the Rockets make a trade,” he continued. “They traded Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks after they had the number two seed last year. All of a sudden, you get this matchup, which is favorable for the Rockets.
“KD better not lose,” he added.
Kevin Durant Responds to Perkins
Durant did not take kindly to Perkins’ warning shots.
“Or what Kendrick?” Durant wrote on IG.
“The f**k u and the underachieving rapper gonna do??”
Durant was responding to a clip of Perkins and his “Perk Unplugged” podcast co-host, Killa Kyleon, again warning the Rockets star about the ramifications of a loss to the Lakers. Durant’s quip about an “underachieving rapper” was a shot at Kyleon.
However, as a Reddit user noted, Durant hid his comment after posting it.
The Lakers enter the series against the Rockets as +550 underdogs. Game 1 of the series tips off Saturday at 5:30 p.m. local time at Crypto.com Arena.
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