Kendrick Perkins Calls Chet Holmgren ‘Soft’ After Being 'Punked' by Victor Wembanyama and Spurs in Blowout Loss

This season, a new big man rivalry is heating up as Chet Holmgren and Victor Wembanyama have duked it out thrice in the OKC Thunder-San Antonio Spurs regular season series. At the moment, Wembanyama has had the upper hand, both in terms of individual stats and team victories.

After the Spurs defeated the Thunder 117-102 on Christmas Day, ESPN's Kendrick Perkins called out Holmgren's toughness. According to Perkins, the OKC big man has not been able to keep up with Wembanyama's intensity thus far.

"I gotta get on my boy Chet Holmgren for a minute," Perkins said in an appearance on "Get Up" the next day. "He's playing soft in this matchup. Victor Wembanyama wants the smoke. He's ducking that smoke right now."

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Perkins also referenced a sequence in which Wembanyama got highly physical with Holmgren and cheered raucously when the latter missed a bonus shot.

"That hard foul he [Wembanyama] had and yelling and clapping at the free throw line...Chet gotta come with it the next time they play the Spurs. It might be in the postseason," Perkins added.

While a Thunder-Spurs matchup is now a much-anticipated prospect in the playoffs, the two teams will have two more regular season games against each other: a duel at Paycom Center on January 13 and a showdown at Frost Bank Center on February 4.

Against the Thunder this season, Wembanyama has averaged 17.7 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game. Meanwhile, Holmgren has put up 11.3 points, 7.3 boards, and 1.0 assist per outing in the season series against San Antonio.

"You're asking the wrong person": Chet Holmgren comments on rivalry with Victor Wembanyama

Interestingly, Holmgren himself doesn't think that there's a rivalry between him and the French phenom.

In an interview with ESPN's Malika Andrews prior to the Christmas Day matchup, Holmgren gave a noncommittal answer when asked about this matter.

"I don't think its ever been up to players or teams to declare rivalries, so you're asking the wrong person," Holmgren told Andrews.

In the same interview, Holmgren said that he has never even uttered "a full sentence" to Wembanyama as they apparently haven't had much time to interact with each other throughout their careers.

Edited by Simoun Victor Redoblado