Ja Morant Calls Out Kendrick Perkins After He Ridiculously Tries To Take Credit For Memphis Star's Recognition

Kendrick Perkins is paid to talk, and when that's the situation, questionable things come out of your mouth, no matter the person in question. For the NBA player turned ESPN analyst, however, he hasn't exactly put in the best effort to avoid saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. 

Perkins continued the pattern of saying something that anyone living in reality would disagree with during a recent appearance on the ‘Out The Mud’ podcast, and Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant was the topic of conversation.

During his conversation with Tony Allen and Zach Randolph, two players who had their numbers retired with the Grizzlies, Perkins tried to claim that he and his bosses at ESPN deserve credit for making Morant such a recognizable star in the NBA.

"I was cool with Ja at one point, but then when Ja started getting into trouble with some of his off-court activities and stuff like that, I had to speak up. Ja, don’t really fu-k with me no more on that sh-t But to be honest, in that type of situation, I don’t fu-k with Ja," Perkins said.

"And you know why I don’t fu-k, I fu-k with his daddy, but I don’t fu-k with Ja. You know why I don’t fu-k with Ja? Cuz it’s like, bro, the reason I’m so mad at you is because ESPN packed up for a week and went down [to Memphis]," he continued. "Listen, y’all had the city rocking. ESPN ain’t never packed up and went down there, spent millions of dollars to go do an all-access on y’all in Memphis. They did that for Ja."

Ja Morant wasn't having Kendrick Perkins' remarks just sit out there. (Photo by Justin Ford/Getty Images)

Those are fair points from Perkins, the city of Memphis, nor the Grizzlies as a franchise, have ever been anywhere near an ESPN spotlight. Criticizing Morant for making not one, but multiple, boneheaded decisions off the court that resulted in fines and suspensions is totally fair from Perkins and anyone else.

While Perkins began his rant with some logic, it quickly flew out the window when he started talking about being responsible for Morant garnering massive amounts of attention.

"We do an all-access, bro. We’re down in Memphis shining light on you. ESPN doesn’t ever do that shi- for sure. We know you are the next chosen one. And you fu-k up," Perkins continued.

"Guess what? Not only does that make you look bad, it makes me look bad because they recognized you because of me speaking highly of you. It ain’t no coincidence that you went from having three games on ESPN national television, that you had 52."

Hold on, what? ESPN and the NBA world started recognizing how good Ja Morant was because Kendrick Perkins spoke highly of his game? That's rich.

Morant rightfully clapped back at Perkins on X, and made it clear he doesn't mess with him anymore.

It would have been fine if Perkins kept the conversation centered around Morant's screw-ups off the floor and how they immediately, and understandably, shut down ESPN's desire to highlight him, but he tried to sneak in the idea that he's some empowering figure in the NBA who put Morant on the map.

While Morant's reputation has taken a brutal hit over recent years with his well-documented off-court issues, before his very dumb decisions, his game did plenty of talking.

The former second-overall pick in the NBA Draft was the Rookie of the Year in 2020, was the league's most-improved player in 2022, and is a two-time All-Star on top of that. He's also a human highlight reel, and even his harshest critics have to agree with that statement.