Kendrick Perkins is no stranger to feuds with people in the NBA and Ja Morant is the latest star to take issue with the ESPN analyst.
It doesn’t matter if it’s Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal on Inside the NBA or his former team in the Boston Celtics or former teammates like Kevin Durant. There’s plenty of Big Perk to go around when it comes to ruffling feathers around the association with his no holds barred approach.
And Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant is the latest to become embroiled in a war of words with Kendrick Perkins.
It started when Perkins appeared on the Out the Mud podcast with former Grizzlies players Tony Allen and Zach Randolph. Perkins went into detail about why he doesn’t “f— with” Ja Morant anymore. And it all has to do with the fact that Big Perk wants credit for being the the person who turned Morant into a superstar before his off-court troubles saw his career go off-course.
Kendricks Perkins say he doesn’t fu*k with Ja Morant 🍿
“You fu*k up, not only do that make you look bad, that made me look bad. They recognized you because of me speaking highly of you. It ain’t no coincidence you went from having 3 games on ESPN to 52.”
(Via @OutTheMudTL) pic.twitter.com/MOgTycUiat
— Fullcourtpass (@Fullcourtpass) October 27, 2025
“I was cool with Ja at one point, but then when Ja started getting in trouble with some of his stuff off the court and s— like that I had to speak on it, me and Ja, Ja don’t really f— with me no more and that s—,” Perkins said.
“The reason I’m so mad at you, ESPN packed up for a week and went, y’all had the city rocking. ESPN ain’t never packed up and went down to spend millions of dollars to go do an all access on y’all in Memphis. They did that for Ja. Bro, I was the one that was praising Ja. I was the one that said, hey man, I came out and said, ‘we could redo that draft, Ja should have gone #1 and not Zion,” Perkins added. “All of a sudden Disney bosses hearing me out, we’re going to do all access bro. We down in Memphis shining light on you. ESPN don’t ever do that s—. We anoint you the next chosen one and you f— up? Guess what, not only do that make you look bad, that make me look bad. Because they recognized you because of me speaking highly of you. It ain’t no coincidence you went from having 3 games on ESPN national television then you had 52.”
It’s true. At least part of it. ESPN did an all access day of programming on March 23, 2022 all about the Memphis Grizzlies. That year the Grizzlies finished with the second best record in the Western Conference, as they did the following year. However, they never made it past the conference semifinals.
For his part, Morant responded to Perkins on social media, saying his comments proved his point on why he doesn’t consider the ESPN analyst a friend or ally.
you da reason for my notoriety perk? come on dawg . 😂 you showing em why ion fw yo kind . https://t.co/OpCqI8vzSo
— Ja Morant (@JaMorant) October 27, 2025
It’s a bold statement and certainly a hot take for Kendrick Perkins to want credit for vaulting Ja Morant into superstardom. His play on the court did enough on its own. But Perk is right in the fact that Morant and the Grizzlies disappeared quickly from the national consciousness as soon as his off-court troubles began overshadowing what the team was producing on it.