Former NBA champion and current analyst Kendrick Perkins shared his thoughts on James Harden’s reaction to comments from Antoine Walker. The Boston Celtics legend said ‘you can’t win with his style,’ saying there’s a problem when a player needs 6-8 dribbles to get to the place he needs to go.
In response to Walker’s, who won a championship in 2006 with the Miami Heat, comments, Harden said he does not pay attention to people with no credibility. The reaction of the Brooklyn Nets’ superstar was discussed on ESPN’s First Take.
While Perkins disagreed with Walker’s assessment, he thought that Harden was wrong by saying Walker has no credibility, adding that the players need to be less sensitive to comments.
“I don’t agree with Antoine Walker with his statement as far as him watching the game of basketball,” Perk said. “I’m not questioning his knowledge. But if you’ve been watching James Harden, he’s been the best player on the damn planet. But look, I will say this. Players have to stop being so damn sensitive. This man get paid to do a job. He was asked to opinion. He gave his opinion. Whether we agree with it or not, it’s his opinion.
“Last time I checked Antoine Walker is credible,” he continued. “He do has credibility. When you look at him from McDonalds’ All-American in high school, from winning the championship at Kentucky, from winning a championship with the Heat, three-time All-Star. By the way, Antoine Walker was that guy. He had his own signature sure with adidas. When you look at Antoine Walker on the cover of NBA Live in 1999. So Antoine Walker was that dude back in the day. So he has all the credibility to say whatever the hell he wants.”
Perkins also raised a question of what is credibility in basketball. “What is credibility? You have to play the game? You have to be an MVP to come over here and state your opinion when somebody asks you about it in the game of basketball? This whole narrative has to change. You could be a student of the game, you could not play basketball at any level and be a student of the game and could give your opinion about the game of basketball.”
