ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins Wants NBA To ‘Respect Utah Again’

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – ESPN NBA analyst Kendrick Perkins released a PSA to try and get the “haters” to “respect the Utah Jazz again.”

Kendrick Perkins fired up the Utah Jazz fanbase on Sunday with the video he posted on Twitter. The video started out with a clip from the NBA All-Star draft when LeBron James said no one picked the Jazz on video games even during the Karl Malone and John Stockton days. That’s why he didn’t pick either Rudy Gobert or Donovan Mitchell until his last pick of the draft.

After the video, Perkins put some passion behind his PSA.

“I mean, damn,” Perkins said. “Do you ever suffer from disrespecting the Utah Jazz? Do you ever see Rudy Gobert and say, ‘what’s that French dude’s name again?’ Do you hear the name Spida and your first thought is never Donovan Mitchell. We all know ya’ll millennials listen to a lot of hip hop, Drake and all those fellas. But kicking back and vibing to Jazz is as OG as it gets. I get it. I understand that sometimes it’s hard not to talk trash about Utah. Y’all want to throw salt on Salt Lake City, but I have the solution for it.

I have a PSA to all of the Utah Jazz Haters out there in the world today!!! pic.twitter.com/bgFVFlmCx9

— Kendrick Perkins (@KendrickPerkins) May 9, 2021

“What’s good my good people. It’s your boy Kendrick Perkins, Big Perk. And here at Hoops Dreams, we just want to help. If you’re tired of the Jazz disrespect, just call the damn number on the damn screen or #RespectUtahJazz again and make a difference. Even Dwayne Wade wants a piece of the pie. Or shall I say he got a piece of the pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side. My good people, Salt Lake City needs our help. And together, we can make a change and put some respect back on Utah’s name.”

The number on the bottom of the video when he said to call the number (not a real number) was 1-800-HELP-UTA. (Again, not a real number).

Utah is sitting in the top spot in the Western Conference and the NBA with four games remaining in the regular season. They clinched at least the No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the playoffs after beating the Houston Rockets on Saturday night.

Perkins spent two days with the Utah Jazz during his 14-year NBA career. On February 19, 2015, Perkins was involved in a three-team trade that basically sent Perkins from Oklahoma City to Utah for Enes Kanter (with many other players involved). Perkins was waived by the Jazz two days later.