Kendrick Perkins shares his ‘unwritten rules’ of media beefs

Kendrick Perkins is no stranger to his fair share of media beefs throughout his tenure at ESPN. But throughout his several feuds, Perkins has learned some valuable lessons as to how to approach fellow media members, which he shared on his Road Trippin’ podcast on Wednesday.

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts has been the topic of conversations amongst several NFL media members throughout the offseason. Particularly, Cam Newton made headlines when he snubbed Hurts on his top-10 quarterbacks list last month, explaining how he felt it was “hard to grade” Hurts because of the excellent talent he plays around in Philadelphia.

This sparked a debate between Newton and ESPN’s Ryan Clark after Clark poked holes into Newton’s resume as a player, which led to a contentious back-and-forth between the two.

Clark wasn’t the only one who took issue with Newton’s comments with Hurts. Notably, former rapper turned Barstool Sports podcast host Gillie Da Kid fired a shot at Newton as well, taking several personal attacks at him in the process.

Kendrick Perkins broke down all of Newton’s media beefs on the most recent episode of the Road Trippin’ podcast, explaining how the personal digs against someone that has a proven track record like Newton hold little to no weight given all that he has achieved in his NFL career.

“When Gillie chimed in, there are certain things… You know, I’m not saying he said this. But it came off that way because some media members do this. When you have personal attacks and you start using words like clown and bum, that’s where you lose me,” said Perkins. “No, no, no. Once you build up a resume at the highest level in high school, the highest level in college, the highest level as a professional. That s*it goes out the window with me. You can miss me with all of those clowns and bums and all this.

” You can debate and argue all day. But it’s a f*cking level of disrespect. Some conversations, fans and certain media members are not invited in. I’m sorry, it’s just that way because you just don’t know. When you see certain players. Ryan Clark, Cam Newton going at it. Let them handle their business. I’m out of it. I’mma let y’all go back and forth. And guess what, after they finish and they realize some of the stuff was personal shots they shouldn’t have said, you see RC come out with his video. He apologized to Cam. It shouldn’t have got to a personal level.

“We can talk about the game and whether or not your list is wrong. It shouldn’t be personal shots. But again, these are football guys. When you come in and you haven’t done that s*it at that level, I think that is one you have got to sit out. This is just not my room. I’m not invited to this table. It’s nothing personal. You may be great in other areas. But you just weren’t great at what they are talking about.”

It’s a fair argument from Kendrick Perkins. While he didn’t have an All-Star level NBA career as a player like some of the players turned media members he has beefed with in the past, like Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley, he at least shares the kind of basketball knowledge that it takes to play at the highest level for a long time.