![r/nba - [PERKINS]: "They were gassing James up ... Lebron, D Wade, Carmelo ... they were trying to break the Oklahoma City Thunder up so they could win more titles"](https://external-preview.redd.it/GagfrxNKqRKlG0nWWnGIIPj6_x3rJNgkyT01zLi5z7I.jpg?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=593f281e66e87ab459c34d602380a85f95c8089a)
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[PERKINS]: "They were gassing James up ... Lebron, D Wade, Carmelo ... they were trying to break the Oklahoma City Thunder up so they could win more titles"
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Funny if Lebron was scheming to break up OKC to win more titles, but unknowingly made KD want to eventually leave to Golden State, leading to Lebron winning less titles.
i remember Lebron literally tweeted right after the Harden trade like:
"DAMN, can't believe it. But you know #13 is gonna be an ALL-STAR in HOUSTON"
LePalpatine
LeTTheHateFlowThruYou
LeDarth Sidious
Great, now I need to know what the NBA equivalents are in the Star Wars universe.
I think Boban is Chewbacca.
Does that mean that Luka is Han? Makes sense seeing as how he’s gotta do it all solo.
LeIAmTheNBA
Is it really gassing if Harden was the 3rd pick and went on to become a top 5 player for almost a decade?
Yeah bc he was off the bench for OKC. Even though he was still amazing, he wasn’t who their main roster was designed around. (Defense/Spacing around KD/Westbrook scoring)
The what if they traded Westbrook instead is pretty crazy. If they knew what they had though they would have kept all 3.
Lebron was also part of the union that pushed for the cap spike cause he needed it for the Cavs to pay his superteam, but also allowed the Warriors to get KD. ain't KD's problem, he just playing the superteam game that Lebron started
Lebron didn't really start it. He did it in direct counter to the Celtics superteam.
He just took it into his own hands.
E: People are forgetting that Ray and Pierce were already in place on the Celtics when KG agreed to be traded to them. Joining other players wasn't new. 3 Stars playing together wasn't new. The only thing that was new was that Lebron didn't have a front office that could do it for him so he did it on his own.
he took it to a whole nother level by players joining up in their primes
LeBron's contribution was convincing other players to line up their contract years and then committing to taking less than the max. It wasn't just "hey, come here," it was years in the making.
yep huge difference
I mean he couldnt do it another way coz noone was going to the cavs
And? Is he supposed to wait until they’re past their primes for play with them or something? I don’t see how that’s relevant lmao.
Wade was not in his prime.
There’s a gigantic difference between selling the entire farm for a pair of aging (but still capable of being dominant) stars and what the Heatles did.
The Heat were just the first trio to decide to do it themselves, without GMs and whatnot. But it was still a trio. Thats an NBA norm. It didn't break the league.
When the fluke of cap space allowed Durant to go to the 73-9 Warriors, that broke the league.
Irrelevant. You're just splitting hairs. If Boston gets to do it theres no reason players can't do the same
There isn't. If you have to play a superteam, you are going to need some help. Cleveland wasn't capable of providing it so he went and got it on his own. His team couldn't go get him Pau, or KG and Ray. So he went and found his own help.
Lebron pulling the trigger isn't different from the Celtics pulling the trigger. The only difference is the player did it instead of the team.
Trading for two guys on the wrong side of 30 is different than superstars in their primes teaming up.
"It's totally different because they did it better!"
Celtics big 3 were in their prime too
Oh please. The celtics big 3 were FO moves not free agent signings between 3 friends colluting to get paid max contracts by 1 team stupid enough to buy their BS of winning 10 championships.
Lebron was acquired via trade by the Heat front office. Wade was drafted. Bosh was signed.
It isn't different because KG chose to join Ray and Pierce who were already in place lol.
Lebron didn't really start it.
Yes, he did. Before Lebron started the modern superteam era you didn't have guys calling up other guys behind both their teams backs, scheming on where to go to make a superteam and ring chase. Every superteam before his bitch move was made by the GM, the vast majority of which were stars who were past their primes. KD just did what Lebron did, except better.
KD just did what Lebron did, except better.
I give Golden State more credit for it than I would KD. Isn't like KD threw the players together, he just joined.
But yeah, Golden State used a similar team building philosophy as the previous teams mentioned. They just did it better. That isn't a gotcha. It was an excellent move by both parties.
Never had a superteam been created by players via free agency and even having those players agree to take pay cuts.
What’s with people misunderstanding how the creation of the Heatles had never happened in competitive sports… ever.
Nobody is misunderstanding anything. I just said he did the same thing but took it into his own hands.
to be fair, why wouldn't players advocate for something that gets them higher salaries?
Cap spike/space is not needed to re-sign your own players champ.
You're missing what they're saying. LeBron had already left Cleveland for Miami and come back to Cleveland and lost to the warriors in the 15/16 finals.
That year the NBA signed a massive TV deal pushing the salary cap through the roof and LeBron and a few others pushed for it to immediately go into effect so he could add another superstar to Cleveland. What he didn't account for was that also gave the warriors cap space to sign KD.
Literally everything you’ve written is wrong. There’s not a big enough cap spike for Cleveland to add a max player in 2016. That’s why they had to overpay for JR and Tristan as they would’ve been over the cap no matter what (helps being repped by Lebron’s agency of course).
The reason players insisted on the cap spike is because they would get more money right away as a group. By smoothing the cap the owners keep the money with them which fucks over the players.
yep you're right
Yea LeBron was part of the union that pushed for the cap spike, but so was every player in the NBA. There was no player in the NBA that was against a major cap spike
LeBlowback
LeSelfFulfillingProphecy
Perkins also said the locker room was very divided with Westbrook, Harden, Maynor and a couple of others in one camp and Durant being by himself.
Perkins had to force them to interact with each other by trying to get everyone to hang out.
yeah as a thunder fan, its very interesting to know some of the behind the scenes stuff from that team.
If I knew this then, I would have no doubt they would someday break up .
It was pretty widely known that Perkins had a large influence on the younger guys when we traded for him. He is looked at as a punchline now, but at the time he brought much needed veteran leadership to that team.
I'll give Perk that. Cavs brought him in for nothing more than to be their enforcer and he did his job well. You can tell he slotted in with the team's chemistry too. Dude came in late into the season and was looking like he was around with them from the jump.
Perk seems like an easy guy to get along with, he and Scalabrine had a hilarious broadcast on a C's game this season when Mike Gorman was out. He's just paid to be obnoxious on TV and Twitter.
Perkins has always been regarded as a lumbering incompetent assclown, from his first moments on an NBA court, other than a few dipshit Thunder fans that bought into his bullshit. Dude is dumb as a fucking rock, not some amazing leader.
Ironic that Perkins himself destroyed OKC with his contract. Without it they would have had a better time paying harden and affording good players instead of Mr. Useless.
FO chose that. they could have amnestied perk and paid harden without getting tax. they couldve also chosen harden over ibaka.
they couldve also just planned to pay the tax. they couldnt predict that the cap would spike the way it did, but the warriors are what happens when an FO goes all in on generational talent. OKC is what happens when they don't.
I remember reddit back then EVERYONE was calling for Perk to be amnestied
still don’t know why they didn’t or just pay.
Yeah, but like perks contract led to pretty much all of it. OKCs owner was never gonna pay more and likely handcuffed Presti away from the amnesty clause. FO didn't choose it, OKCs cheap ass owner pushed it. To an extent its understandable OKC being a tiny market and all, but like we've seen success build massive long term revenue. OKCs cheap ass owner didn't get that.
just go over the cap, resign your own guys
Maynor
Man, been a while since I heard Eric Maynor. Dude was good in the tourney for VCU when they beat Duke.
OF COURSE it was Perkins hding it all together.
Suuuurrrre
I dunno, Perkins seems like a reliable source about how great Perkins was.
KD aka Slim Tweeter would definitely call out Perk if he's lying.
KD the well known truth teller
Idk how much this influenced Harden's decision to leave but I find it funny that Lebron and Dwade were telling him to get his own team while they both gave up "having their own teams" to join forces together and win chips
It's probably a split between wanting to get him off the thunder for selfish reasons and wanting him to maximize his income
there is also a story on how Kobe was telling Russ that he could be winning scoring titles just like KD in order to get into his head.
Yeah but Kobe does it it’s mamba mentality baby and when Bron does it I’m sure it’ll somehow be considered soft or some bullshit
Flirting vs harassment
Or it's some pussy shit no matter who did it.
I'd quote Ime we don't run from nobody but we lost 😭
its cause lebron tries to come off as a nice guy who gets along with everyone. it's inauthentic and we hear stories of his trash talking in private and it exposes him
kobe was always authentically himself
If you're insuniating that ego cost okc a title, then they definitely did not deserved that title to begin with.
Ego and our owners cheapness cost us a title, yes imo.
Whether we deserved it or not its an entirely different matter
Harden didnt wanna leave, he didnt even decide to leave. He was traded because OKC’s owner wanted to save a couple million bucks.
Harden was traded, he didn't decide to leave.
he was traded because he wasn't signing an extension.
And he proved pretty quickly he deserved the max, so I don't know how much you can call it meddling vs some vets telling a kid to get his bag.
watch the full clip. Perk said that they ( Lebron, DWade etc) were right in " gassing him up" and I agree.
I'm not saying Harden didn't deserve the max, I'm saying he could have taken less to keep it all together ( which if I remember correctly KD and Russ both did ) in order to win chips.
Ofc I blame our owner too for not paying up
Because they didn’t want to pay the luxury tax and were lowballing him
Right, which is why he decided to leave. It's not like they traded him out of the blue
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Perkins is horrible when he does what ESPN wants and tries to be Barkley and instead comes off like a fucking idiot clown. But he's ok when he's just talking and not trying to be funny, outrageous or controversial.
ESPN wants bad television and more ads. He is good at what they want, because if they wanted anything else, he'd be gone.
ESPN execs are out of touch.
Melo ain’t win shit lol
Hey I hold his 1x scoring title in very high regard
You guys even won a playoff series. Sure it was against a 41-win team missing its best player, and sure Melo played like shit throughout the series, but…
Yea I got nothing
thats a pretty convoluted way to say melos lone playoff series win with the knicks was slamming the door shut on the big 3 era of boston
The big 3 of Pierce, KG, and Jason Terry?
Damn what a player
He did get a single MVP vote in 2013 tho…💀
Melo would have won in Miami with Wade and Bosh. And if LeBron went to the Knicks in 2010? Playing with the likes of Billy Walker and Jared Jefferies, LeBron might STILL be ringless today
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is this perkins episode worth it? idk if it's gonna be full of shit or what
it's very good. I can't stand KP on ESPN but here he is very authentic
based on their appearances on JJ's pod, it seems like he and SAS are very aware of who the ESPN audience is and its not us
Perk and SAS episodes of OM&tS made me do a complete 180 on both. Both just flat out acknowledging that they're manufacturing drama for television while having extremely intelligent and humorous conversations with JJ.
I need to watch this pod more.
The whole thing is great. Perk is a real one when he's just hanging out.
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Didn't their owner vote against his own self interest during the lockout and couldn't stomach paying above the same luxury tax he advocated for?
He probably still made more cuz when teams pay past the luxury cap money goes to cheap teams
That's a great point. Blew up a budding dynasty but hey, he made extra along the way.
Kobe was trying to break up OKC at the Olympics too.
D Wade wasn’t even on the 2012 Olympics team Perk really just be making things up https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_United_States_men%27s_Olympic_basketball_team
I've heard Kobe and CP3 were doing the same thing in other interviews
And once harden joined the rockets perkins was praying for him to tear his ACL
As if Carmelo cared about chips.
All they had to do to undermine OKC was make sure they kept Perkins.
But max, but max, but…but max, but max. How does this dummy have a job? He’s the Brendan schaub of TV analysts.
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Carmelo???
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He’s literally on YOUR team. Rent free ig tho
How would perk know what happens at USA basketball training
Well this backfired tremendously in lebron face. His peak years will be stained by kd hitting dagger in his face and sweeping him
Lol it’s hilarious that you think that
Funny that these guys went through all of this but at the end of the day a 6’2 165 pounder went and ruined the thunder.
are those Sam Prestis stats?
Nope.
Klay aint 6'2
No he’s not.
your 9 fell over
No 9 needed.
he's not 165
He was. Isn’t now.
I thought KD was closer to 7'.
He is.
Do you have a family history of schizophrenia?
Who
Why are we posting things by perkins? You may as well talk to your QAnon uncle as he is probably making things up the same amount, let alone with a producer in his ear.
Perkins is fucking annoying 😂 why does he even get platforms to speak? Bro is a glorified role player at his best. No one gives a fuck about his opinions.
lol. The thunder. Spurs have entered the chat
Edit * all these downvotes without one comment. Bc you know I'm right, thunder were barely a blip on the radar in the 00s western conference
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LeMachiavellianism
Harden doesn’t become the Harden we know, if he doesn’t leave OKC. He needed a change of scenery and room to become the leader.
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