Kendrick Perkins wants his vote back.
The ex-NBA star and ESPN analyst said on Thursday’s edition of “First Take” that his vote for Rudy Gobert as the league’s Defensive Player of the Year has caused him embarrassment as the Timberwolves star has struggled in the postseason.
“I have the biggest regret in my media career, and … I’m retiring … from voting for individual regular season awards because I have done a disservice in using my voting rights,” Perkins said. “Me, voting this season, for Rudy Gobert is an embarrassment for me for Defensive Player of the Year. He’s the first player we see every single time in the postseason that becomes a defensive liability.”
Gobert won the 2024 NBA Defensive Player of the Year award by a landslide, with the Minnesota center getting 72 first-place votes, almost quadrupling Spurs rookie Victor Wembanyama’s 19 votes, the second-highest total.
Gobert’s play has not withstood the playoff test, however.
Despite having a positive plus/minus in two of the three Western Conference Finals games against the Mavericks, Gobert was also put on skates and viciously taunted by Mavericks star Luka Doncic for a game-winning 3-pointer in Game 2.
His offensive numbers have dropped since the postseason began — his 12.2 points, 10.2 total rebounds, 7.2 defensive rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game over 13 postseason contests entering Tuesday’s Game 4 against the Mavericks all represent sizable steps backward over his regular season stats.
“Don’t come give me these analytics,” Perkins continued on Gobert. “Don’t come giving me these plus/minus stats, because that’s the most overrated stat in the NBA. When I look at Rudy, he has tarnished the Defensive Player of the Year Award. He has. He’s not respected by his peers; we saw what happened to him in the Denver series; he couldn’t guard the person at his position. [Minnesota teammate] Karl-Anthony Towns did a better job at that.
“What is he [Gobert] doing right now? When you look at this series right now, do you realize that Rudy has three blocks in three games? He’s averaging one block per game at 7’3. Unacceptable to say he’s a four-time defensive player of the year.”
Whether Perkins is grandstanding or actually would remove himself from voting remains to be seen, but he wouldn’t be the first media member to no longer partake in awards season.
ESPN writer Zach Lowe also withdrew himself from voting, citing that it “felt a little icky” deciding players’ contracts.