Outspoken for a living, former NBA player turned ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins is accustomed to having divisive opinions. It is his job, or at least, it is very much his desire.
He is less accustomed, though, to humble retraction. Yet this is what he has been forced to do in light of recent comments he made about the New Orleans Pelicans.
Perkins Checks Himself
Speaking on the Road Trippin’ podcast earlier this week that he cohosts with fellow former NBA players Channing Frye and Richard Jefferson, alongside Allie Clifton, the former Pelicans center spoke on the recent speculation that his former team could be a relocation candidate in the near future, as the related topic of NBA expansion flares up once again.
The topic of the Pelicans moving was brought back into the fold this week in a discussion by Bill Simmons and Zach Lowe on The BS Podcast. Simmons – himself a noted view sharer – shared his belief that basketball in New Orleans as “an experiment that has not worked for 50 plus years”.
Initially, Perkins echoed that belief. But on a later episode, he walked it back, expressing his admiration for the Pelicans fan base.
“I’ve barked up that tree before and it was a mistake on my part,” said Perkins, with seemingly sincere regret. “I said that the Pelicans they need to just sell the franchise and relocate and do all of this. And damn it, the fans, they got on my heels like a pair of church socks. And I thought about it — I was wrong.”
“The fanbase down there is actually pretty damn good. They just waiting on the Pelicans to do something.”
Pelicans Nevertheless Frustrating
Perkins is certainly right that there is a frustration surrounding New Orleans basketball.
Between the Chris Paul era, the Anthony Davis era and the false hope of the Zion era, there have been a lot of promising starts over the last twenty years, but no satisfying endings. Since the former Charlotte Hornets franchise moved to the city in 2002, the team has made the playoffs only nine times in 23 seasons, and have only two postseason series victories in those nine attempts, never getting beyond the second round.
The last time the Pelicans made it beyond the first round of the playoffs was all the way back in the 2017-18 season. In NBA terms, that is roughly a millennium ago. So long ago, in fact, that Kendrick Perkins was still playing at the time.
Constant frustrations with the franchise have not been abated any by what is universally regarded – by this author included – as being an extremely poor piece of judgement in a trade earlier this summer that might set the franchise back further. In trading up to select Derik Queen in the 2025 NBA Draft, the Pelicans opted to give up an unprotected 2026 first-round pick that by no rights should they have had to give up. It is these kind of decisions that hold the franchise back, and that lead to the “failed experiment” narrative that Simmons et al were promulgating.
As Perkins now acknowledges, it is not the fans who are letting the side down. It is the product they consistently turn out to support. For every good piece of fortune they get, a bad piece trumps it; for all the good personnel decisions that are made, bad ones undercut them. The Pelicans are going nowhere, and they are going nowhere slowly, but moving the franchise is not the required solution. Running it better is.
Kendrick Perkins: “I Was Wrong”