Over the recent years, Kevin Durant and Kendrick Perkins have come at each other several times. They found themselves clashing for some reason or the other. What’s interesting to observe here is that they were teammates at the Oklahoma City Thunder once. Most importantly, they were friends; best friends. But then, a lot of people also believe KD has a knack for turning friends into enemies. He did it in OKC, he did it at the Bay, and well, didn’t spare Big Perk either.

In 2020, KD and Perkins started a Twitter (now, X) war as the latter announced on SportsCenter that Russell Westbrook was the best Thunder player ever. It started with a spark between Kendrick Perkins and the Celtics writer Marc D’Amico. Then boom—Kevin Durant jumped in. What followed was a heated back-and-forth drenched in old wounds. Durant dismissed Perkins’ OKC legacy, while Perkins fired back, branding KD’s Warriors’ move as “weak” and “cowardly.”

Things haven’t been subtle between the ex-teammates since then. Instead, escalation seemed the only way ahead for them. And now, Kevin Durant is back with another X-war as he took a jab at Kendrick Perkins’ recent claim on the Road Trippin’ podcast. Durant issued a four-word taunt for Perkins, saying, “The actual real mvp.”Even Perkins didn’t shy away from responding, so he retweeted: “😎”

Kendrick Perkins did not hold back when Kenyon Martin called him a “liability” during his Thunder days. Fired up and ready, Perk clapped back with receipts: “The Oklahoma City Thunder never went to the NBA Finals until Kendrick Perkins arrived on that team.” He detailed his playoff dominance, from shutting down Dirk Nowitzki to silencing Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum. “They did absolutely nothing,” the 40-year-old made sure the history books got corrected.

Then came the mic drop. He said, “Guess who had to guard the greatest power forward of all time, by himself, Kendrick Perkins.” He even claimed he “locked up Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili.” Love him or not, Perk stood tall with pride. Yet, he gave props to the present-day Oklahoma City Thunder, admitting, “This team that they have right now is better, they have more depth.” The big man proved he has passion, pride, and plenty to say.

The dreaded day that saw the commencement of a beef

Amidst the back and forth, what particularly stings is the fact that both players were once good friends, as we mentioned before. And back in the day, during his appearance on The Old Man & the Three with JJ Redick and Tommy Atler, Kendrick Perkins provided an insight into how it all started. The breaking point? A rant on the television.

Kendrick Perkins revealed, “The same Perk you see on television is the same guy that I was in the locker room. So, I will say the same thing to the guys as far as holding them accountable. Me and Kevin Durant fell out, right? We went from being best friends to him playing at Golden State.”

“When he tore his Achilles, I remember going to his house because I was out there working the game in the finals. I mean, when he had the calf strain. I went to his house, and I was like, ‘Look bro, you don’t have a damn thing to prove, shut it down. There’s no reason for you to even be playing, you’re a two-time champion, two-time finalist MVP.'”

During Game 5 of the 2019 NBA Finals, Kevin Durant initially played despite having a calf strain. And the result of it? Well, he re-injured his calf and ultimately suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon. This was later diagnosed as a grade 1 strain. It was also around the same time that Perkins had started his broadcasting career with ESPN as a studio analyst.

And when Perkins advised Durant not to play, he suited up anyway, as we all saw. That was something that didn’t sit well with Perkins. So, when the next day he got on the TV, he made sure to call out Bob Myers, claiming that he “put pressure on him (Kevin Durant) to play.” The only thing that Perkins missed was that these things were supposed to be kept in-house and not to be released for the public. However, if anything, he also said that he was not aware of the fact that these details had to be kept under wraps.

He added, “I’m just speaking my mind and taking up with my boy. I didn’t really give a damn about Bob Myers. I was just p—– off that you know KD was out there playing. He shouldn’t have been.”

And from there, well, the rest is history…

Some friendships age like fine wine, others like spilled soda. Kevin Durant and Kendrick Perkins once shared laughs and locker rooms, but now trade jabs and tweets. The fire still burns, only now it’s on X instead of the court. Maybe it’s pride, maybe it’s pain. But clearly, neither is ready to let the past stay quiet.