"Who the f**k are you?" - Kendrick Perkins calls out ex-Celtics teammate for championship parade claim, discusses connection with Joe Mazzulla
Kendrick Perkins ripped his former Boston Celtics teammate Brian Scalabrine for comments he made on SiriusXM Radio in June. Scalabrine had claimed that Perkins had a “big scarlet letter” and that the franchise no longer maintained an "open-arms" approach with him. Perkins appeared on the “All the Smoke” podcast to share his perspective on the matter.
When co-hosts Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes asked Perkins about Scalabrine's claim of him being excluded from the Celtics’ 2024 championship celebration, he did not hold back.
“They win the championship, and Brian Scalabrine, f**king Scal, he’s like, ‘Well, door’s not just open for him to come back to the Celtic organization.”
Perkins added:
“Now, it’s two things I took from that. One, Scal, who the f**k are you? You’s the same motherf**ker 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.”
Kendrick Perkins has been critical of the Boston Celtics. He urged the team in the past to split the Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown tandem and questioned Joe Mazzulla's coaching ability. Recently, he claimed that “no one in the NBA is scared” of the defending champs.
During the Celtics’ celebration around Boston for their NBA-record 18th championship, former stars of the franchise, including Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Eddie House, Scalabrine and Leon Powe, attended the event. Perkins, the starting center for the Celtics' 2008 title team, was nowhere to be found.
After the parade, Scalabrine discussed why Perkins wasn't around.
“Big scarlet letter. … It’s not really an open-arms thing with Kendrick Perkins,” Scalabrine said (per Boston.com)
Perkins has frequently criticized the Celtics, including Mazzulla. In January, he said that if Mazzulla's brain were placed inside a bird, it would cause the bird to fly backward. However, he revealed that the coach had extended an invitation to dinner before the season began.
"I actually get an email from Joe Mazzulla saying, 'Whenever you're free, if you're in Boston or we play the Rockets, I wanna go to dinner and break bread.'"
The ESPN analyst told the podcasters that he planned to take up Joe Mazzulla's offer.
Kendrick Perkins' first response to Brian Scalabrine's comments was in June
Kendrick Perkins promptly reacted to Brian Scalabrine’s comments about the Boston Celtics no longer welcoming him. The ESPN analyst appeared on the “Felger & Mazz” show in June to blast his former teammate:
“Right now I feel like Scal is a coward. Was I the only 2008 member missing from the duck boat? … There was still 11 other guys missing. And to be honest with you, if I would’ve gotten an invite, which I didn’t — I didn’t know we was supposed to — but anyways, nine times out of 10, I would’ve turned it down.”
Brian Scalabrine calls Celtics games for NBC Sports Boston while Kendrick Perkins has become a fixture at ESPN.