First Take Dedicated an Entire TV Segment to LeBron James Unfollowing ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins on Social Media
The First Take crew on Monday made the baffling decision to spend 12 minutes talking about LeBron James unfollowing ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins on social media.
Days before the NBA Finals, James praised Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving on his podcast Mind the Game for making it to the NBA Finals once again. While praising him, James mentioned how part of him is upset over the fact that the two are no longer teammates. The pair led the Cleveland Cavaliers to a historic comeback win over the Golden State Warriors in the Finals in 2016.
Perkins interpreted the comment at James deliberately inserting himself into the conversation and called him out for it on TV.
“Here we go again, [LeBron James] weaseling his way into somebody else’s moment… This is not about you! Your team is at home… You’re so mad & disappointed that you’re not Kyrie Irving’s running mate anymore.”
— Kendrick Perkins 😳
(via @espn / YT)pic.twitter.com/VUhC28b3gg https://t.co/gD4SdNBrYF
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) June 6, 2024
Then, a Twitter account known for tracking the online activity of athletes revealed that James had unfollowed Perkins. In response, Perkins noted that not everyone followed Jesus.
“Everybody didn’t follow Jesus, I’ll be ok” https://t.co/5tAKKNuGnC
— Kendrick Perkins (@KendrickPerkins) June 8, 2024
Then, on Monday — despite the NBA Finals, Stanley Cup Final, College World Series, WNBA, and MLB all going on — First Take brought Perkins on to talk about being unfollowed.
“Imagine unfollowing me on Twitter, but you still gotta wake up and watch me on TV every day because I ain’t going nowhere any time soon,” Perkins said. “That’s no. 1. No. 2, I think LeBron James got sensitive over the last couple weeks because I’ve been calling him out or have to speak on certain things that he may disagree with — like the firing of Darvin Ham or the coaching search for the Lakers, or even having to touch on the Bronny James situation when it comes down to dealing with the draft.”
Perkins explained he was disappointed because he’s spent years defending James on TV.
“Bron, I’ve been knowing you since 1999, brother,” he continued. “We played AAU basketball together… We played in the McDonald’s All-American Game together. We were in the same draft. You have my phone number! If you had a problem with anything I said, we could’ve picked up the phone and had a conversation; but instead, you took to the public. You knew the world was gonna see it, eventually, that you unfollowed me because they have all these stalkers that have their stuff on alert. We’re living in weird times.”
Watch above via ESPN.
