LeBron James is undoubtedly the most powerful man in the NBA and possibly the sports world. With one wave of his hand, gravity gets shifted as he'd like, at least according to Kendrick Perkins.
During Road Trippin's post-gold medal match episode , the former NBA big man mentioned the influence of the Lakers superstar in basketball circles, including the media.
"Look, that mf**** Bron is so powerful, the (2024) draft, we had to talk about his son, Bronny, just to keep people engaged," Perkins commented. "What I'm saying is, that's how powerful he is, because Bronny is tied to LeBron, and in order to keep people interested in this draft that we just had, we had to talk about him, to keep the rating where they were."
The Context
In situations like this, context is of the utmost importance. The crew was discussing the hierarchy of the United States men's basketball team in terms of star power. Former NBA All-Star Richard Jefferson noted that James and Steph Curry were in their own stratosphere, and everybody else fell in line.
Jefferson then noted how LeBron practically shifted how ESPN operated when he went to the West Coast by signing with the Lakers.
"When you look at the rating, and we get them game-by-game, player-by-player, it is LeBron, there's Steph, and there's everyone else," said Jefferson. "Those are the numbers. These are facts. When LeBron left Cleveland and moved to the West Coast, it f***** up ESPN."
RJ explained that with the time zone difference, ESPN had to get creative. Jefferson claimed that the solution was to cover more games when the Lakers traveled the road on the East Coast.
After that, Perkins, an NBA champion with the Celtics in 2008, admitted how LeBron James' gravity affected how ESPN approached their choice of topics.
LeBron James-Kendrick Perkins Feud
James and Perkins have been on both sides of the fence during their basketball careers. Before the Heatles era, they engaged in a bitter rivalry between Perk in Boston and Bron in Cleveland. After that, the retired center made the Cavs roster on two separate occasions in the twilight of his career.
Just before the 2024 NBA Draft, Big Perk slammed the four-time NBA MVP, accusing him of 'weaseling into somebody's moment.' James reacted by unfollowing Perkins on X (formerly Twitter), and it has stayed that way since.
Before that, Perkins had a problem with Bronny's excessive coverage, which led to the draft.
"We're talking about a young man that's possibly going to go late second round or not get drafted at all," a visibly irked Perkins said on NBA Today . "Never in my four years of working here, I've never sat on the table and where we're talking about a second-round pick."
I guess it's safe to say that the follow button will stay black in the foreseeable future. But then again, that won't stop Kendrick Perkins, or anybody, from talking about LeBron James.
Related: LeBron James is done with the Olympics: ‘I can’t see myself playing in 2028’
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