After Bill Simmons criticized and poked fun at ESPN’s NBA Draft coverage, Kendrick Perkins took to social media to call out The Ringer’s founder and CEO.
Kendrick Perkins Claps Back At Bill Simmons
Ill address your ass @BillSimmons on Sunday my Guy pic.twitter.com/PatmWMhIL6
— Kendrick Perkins (@KendrickPerkins) June 26, 2025
Simmons was not a fan of ESPN’s draft coverage, and that’s putting it lightly.
ESPN and ABC both aired coverage of the draft. Simmons didn’t like either.
“I didn’t know which telecast to watch,” Simmons said on his podcast. “It was like, do I take this samurai sword and jam it into my temple, or do I take this chainsaw and saw my leg off? I couldn’t figure it out.”
The Sports Guy took it one step further and called out Perkins for his analysis of the Toronto Raptors.
“They took Collin Murray-Boyles, and Perk said they had the pieces to be a top-six team in the East,” Simmons said. “And at that point I started looking for a third ESPN channel, but there were only two covering the draft. There wasn’t a third one. At least one that I could find.”
Well, Big Perk heard the comments from “cupcake ass” Simmons and called him out in a nearly three-minute rant on X.
“Thinking about Bill Simmons, cupcake ass, always got my name in his mouth, but I’m going to address you Sunday,” Perkins said. The ESPN analyst will further address Simmons’ comments on the Road Trippin podcast.
“I don’t know who anointed you the preacher or king or head honcho, overseeing basketball and the way things need to be,” Perkins continued. “What have you done? What have you done, period, in the game of basketball? Have you ever played?”
While Simmons did not play in the NBA, he’s been covering the sport for nearly 30 years and wrote The Book of Basketball.
In regard to the Raptors’ take, Perkins defended it because of the uncertainty in the Eastern Conference.
“That wasn’t a crazy take or anything to that nature,” Perkins said. “It’s a real thing, fool!”
The Achilles injuries to Boston’s Jayson Tatum, Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton, and Milwaukee’s Damian Lillard will greatly impact their respective teams.
Bill Simmons Responds To Kendrick Perkins’ Rant
I’m honored that you sat in a car for 2+ minutes to scold me on your iPhone like this, even though we are a combined age of like 92.
If you actually think Toronto will be top-6 in the East in anything other than “most fun place to visit” — let’s wager on it ASAP.
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) June 26, 2025
After Perkins’ rant went viral, Simmons commented on the video, saying he would love to place a wager on Toronto to finish outside the top six.
“I’m honored that you sat in a car for 2+ minutes to scold me on your iPhone like this, even though we are a combined age of like 92,” Simmons wrote on X. “If you actually think Toronto will be top-6 in the East in anything other than “most fun place to visit” — let’s wager on it ASAP.”
We will know by next April if Perkins or Simmons is right about Toronto.
