“No One Wants to See Disgruntled Justin Jefferson”: Kendrick Perkins Accuses NFL of Being ‘Petty’ as Christmas Day Gamble Massively Backfires

Former player Kendrick Perkins, on Wednesday on ESPN’s “First Take,” accused the NFL of being petty after their Christmas Day schedule gamble massively backfired. The NFL has expanded its Christmas Day footprint, hoping to build on last season’s success by hosting three games on streaming platforms Amazon Prime Video and Netflix.

Perkins joined fans on social media to call out the NFL for backfiring in its attempt to claim more holiday viewership just as it has dominated Thanksgiving.

“We gave y'all Thanksgiving, now y'all want to step into our business, Perkins said. “See, the NFL tried to be petty when they came on Christmas Day. And guess what happened now? All of a sudden you got the Cowboys and the Commanders. Nobody wants to watch that. ... Then all of a sudden you got the Lions at the Vikings.” “Nobody wants to watch that as well,” Kendrick Perkins added. “No one wants to see a disgruntled Justin Jefferson. Christmas Day belongs to us. We got Wemby, we got Steph, we got Bron, we got Big Body Brunson. … We got all the action.”

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The NBA has traditionally scheduled games on Christmas Day. This season sees games featuring New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson, Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell, LA Lakers superstar LeBron James, three-time MVP Nikola Jokic and Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards. Games involving these players will be broadcast on ABC and ESPN.

However, while the NFL generated a reported 24 million viewers in its double-header game between the Kansas City Chiefs at Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens at Houston Texans games, this year’s own have proven to be underwhelming according to critics, including Kendrick Perkins. Several teams scheduled have lost playoff relevance and key players, notably Patrick Mahomes, are injured.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver publicly acknowledged the NFL’s entry into Christmas Day. He rejected the idea of moving NBA games to Christmas Eve to avoid overlap, emphasizing that Christmas Day games are a tradition the league wants to uphold.

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Kendrick Perkins wants the NBA to return to more physical defense

Kendrick Perkins agreed with commissioner Adam Silver that the league should return to a more physical style of defense. He said this when he spoke on the “Road Trippin” show on Dec. 12.

“This is an area that we need to clean up,” Perkins said (start from 27:15). “Because the only team that consistently plays defense at a high level is…I will give a little nod to Detroit, but OKC.”

Commissioner Silver acknowledged that while high scoring is fun for fans, the league may have pushed offense too far at the expense of physical defense.

Edited by Ubong Richard