For portions of five seasons with the Oklahoma City Thunder, Kendrick Perkins and Serge Ibaka played together. But it doesn’t appear that they get along after more than seven years since they last shared the court. Following an apparent joke about Ibaka’s age that Perkins made on TV, things got heated between two former teammates on Twitter.
Pekins made his appearance on ESPN’s First Take on Monday and spoke about his days with the Oklahoma City Thunder. During his stint with the Thunder, Perkins shared the locker room with Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka. Recounting the team’s young core, Perkins made a joke that even though Ibaka’s listed age for the 2010–11 season was 21, he was, “probably 30 at the time.”
Speaking on national television Perkins said that players lie about their age in the league. “Everybody kept saying, ‘Oh, Kevin Durant is only 23 years of age. Russell Westbrook is only 22, James Harden is 22, Serge Ibaka is 21—although he was probably 30 at the time because we already know how certain individuals lie about their age,” Perkins said. Perk’s comments did not sit well with Ibaka and started a war of words on Twitter between the two former teammates.
Serge Ibaka is not happy with Kendrick Perkins’ joke about his age.
It quickly turned into a venting session from Serge on Perk’s “leadership” during their days with Oklahoma City. pic.twitter.com/IOT1tGiyXz
— Boomtown Hoops (@BoomtownHoops) December 26, 2022
Serge Ibaka rips Kendrick Perkins on Twitter for making jokes about his age
Serge Ibaka
A few hours after Perkins made his comments on First Take, Serge Ibaka wrote a lengthy reply for the First Take guest. Ibaka wrote that it was disappointing to see a former teammate spreading lies about a former teammate’s age on TV. “It’s disappointing to hear someone I shared a locker room with spreading misinformation to be relevant and get views on TV and social media,” Ibaka wrote on Twitter.
Ibaka continued his slander as he questioned Perk’s leadership and said that such lies are disrespectful to many, “Africans who have to live with that unfounded accusation.” Ibaka is 33 now and is playing his 14th season in the league with the Bucks. “You can talk about my game If I don’t play well, I will never have a problem with that,” Ibaka wrote. “But to talk extra for no reason is really not acceptable,” he added.
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In his lengthy reply to Perkin’s comments, the former OKC player also accused his former teammate of violating the locker room code. “When KD had a bad game you criticized him behind his back, and when Russ…You were not a locker room leader, and then you continued doing the same in the media,” continued Ibaka.
Hey @sergeibaka my bad homie if I offended you. It’s was a joke! My bad if it made you feel some type of way!!! My apologies my brother https://t.co/n1SCzEnQL1
— Kendrick Perkins (@KendrickPerkins) December 26, 2022
Perkins, later on, took to Twitter to apologize to his former teammate and clarified that it was just a joke. Perk wrote, “My bad homie if I offended you. It’s was a joke! My bad if it made you feel some type of way!!! My apologies my brother.” However, Perk also didn’t hold back on accusations from Ibaka. He wrote, “Please don’t get me started homie…I’m not about to talk about those OKC days and what you were doing in that locker room. I will not… but you definitely need to stop because you know I KNOW!!!!”
