In a Tuesday rant on ESPN, Kendrick Perkins publicly questioned his own vote for Gobert to earn his fourth top defensive player award this season.
He took exception to Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic making Gobert look human — something both players do to essentially every opposing defender without exception. In the process, Perkins suggested he might actually surrender his NBA Award votes. Hmm, now here’s where it gets interesting.
If we go off Perkins’ voting record, that’s something he should probably really consider!
According to the league’s database, the former NBA center has had an NBA Awards vote for the last three seasons in 2022, 2023, and 2024. That includes honors like MVP, DPOY, and the top rookie, as well as the All-NBA, All-Defensive, and All-Rookie teams. Put another way: Perkins is one of the few select people whose opinion really matters in handing out postseason recognition to the NBA’s better players.
It is a responsibility he has not done well with.
As a reminder, many of these honors come with heavy financial incentives for some players in their individual contracts. After going through Perkins’ voting ballots—which are all available to the public—it’s abundantly clear he’s made a bunch of questionable calls. To be clear, these are all Perkins’ opinions, and everyone is bound to have an opinion that seems a little outlandish or out of the box compared to everyone else. It’s the normal process. Even still, some of Perkins’ choices are suspect at best.
After Perkins suggested he might stop voting for NBA honors over his Gobert frustration, let’s take a look at his worst awards votes that show it might be better to have someone more sensible in his place.
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In 2022, Perkins’ ballot for the NBA’s Most Improved Player was, in order: Desmond Bane, Jordan Poole, and Darius Garland. On its face, every player was deserving, and it’s not that bad even if Bane’s teammate, Ja Morant, eventually won the award.
However, Perkins’ ballot for the 2024 Most Improved Player presents an interesting disconnect. In order, he picked Tyrese Maxey (the winner), Coby White … and Jalen Brunson?
Look, there’s nothing wrong with involving Brunson, who was already very good before this year. Many voters have a different logic when it comes to the Most Improved Player award. Some believe the honor is more about a non-established player announcing themselves to the league. Others believe it is more merit-based, sometimes warranting a vote for a player’s rise from “good” to “great.” Instead of highlighting Morant’s ascendance to superstardom, Perkins followed that youthful mantra in 2022 with a cadre of young NBA difference-makers.
Then, Perkins seemingly walked it all back. He rolled with Brunson’s ascendance to a top-tier player instead of picking names like Alperen Sengun or Jalen Williams. What changed over the last couple of years? The logic here follows a path of zero consistency.
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Durant might be the greatest pure scorer in NBA history. In his prime, heck even now, he is a certified bucket-getter from anywhere on the court. Still, no one has ever considered him an elite defender. Yes, he has moments of competency like anyone, but he has never had the reputation of a shutdown guy.
Well, except apparently with Perkins in 2022. That’s right. After a season where Durant finished with less than a block and steal per game while usually never taking one of the harder defensive assignments, Perkins voted the then-Brooklyn Nets forward onto the All-Defensive Second Team. Not Draymond Green. Not Jrue Holiday. Not Rudy Gobert. No, no … Durant, for an average defensive season, even by his standards.
I’m not really sure how to follow that up.
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Everyone’s definition of MVP is different, however, when it comes to Perkins’ voting record with now three-time MVP Nikola Jokic, it turns into something partly questionable.
In 2022, instead of picking between the top two contenders in a hotly-contested race between Jokic and Joel Embiid, Perkins went with Giannis Antetokounmpo. He voted Jokic third. This past season, when Jokic finished with 79 first-place votes, Perkins voted for him in third again. Mind you, only one other person voted for Jokic in third. All of this after Perkins had Jokic second to Embiid during his second MVP campaign in 2022. Not the best track record.
During arguably the best stretch of Jokic’s prime, Perkins hasn’t come close to a reasonable consensus.
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Murray is a scorer first. A player who, these days, is seldom confused as an exemplary defender. Perkins put him on the Second All-Defensive Team in 2023 anyway.
P.J. Tucker is more of that classic role player who guards with tenacity and effort. He’s had a long career because of that skill set. But the number of more deserving names (Mikal Bridges, Marcus Smart, Alex Caruso, to name a few) for the second defensive team also in 2023 warrants choosing someone else. It just kind of feels like Perkins threw two random darts here.
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Brunson might be the most electric point guard in the league right now. There is still no realm where he was anywhere near the NBA’s MVP in 2024
Yet, Perkins voted him second behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. It was one of only three second-place votes. Never mind that Jokic and Luka Doncic played in a tougher conference, were more efficient, and led their teams to better records. Somehow, Perkins thought Brunson was more valuable than both.
I can get the vibe on Brunson being named All-NBA Second Team. I would agree with that selection and, again, could be convinced of a case for the First Team. But MVP? No way, no how.
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Picking a Coach of the Year can be especially challenging compared to the other awards. So many coaches do terrific jobs turning their rosters around or leading them to heavyweight contention every year. It feels unfair to center on three people because evaluating a coaching job is more subjective on a year-to-year basis than we perhaps think.
With that said, I’m struggling to figure out why Perkins left the Minnesota Timberwolves Chris Finch off of his coaching ballot this year. While Oklahoma City’s Mark Daigneault took home the award, there seemed to be a relative consensus that Finch deserved to be in the mix between 23 and 31 second and third-place votes, respectively. That superb coaching job deserved some sort of recognition. For a good reason, too. A year after fighting for a play-in game, Finch’s Timberwolves won 56 games and took the West’s No. 3 seed as an NBA Finals-caliber team.
Perkins didn’t even have Finch in third place. Sheesh, tough crowd, man.
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Podziemski is a great connector for the Warriors to have in their rotation because of his fit with Steph Curry. He makes all the “winning plays.” However, to give him a platform as one of the league’s elite defenders feels a tad absurd at this stage. Which is what Perkins did when he put the Warriors’ guard on the All-Defensive Second Team.
Not Jalen Suggs. Not Alex Caruso. Not Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. But Podziemski, a connecting guard who is not nearly the caliber of a perimeter defender like some of his peers that Perkins left out. There is a glut of elite point-of-attack guards and fleet-footed, space-eating wings in the NBA right now. Podziemski is decidedly not one of them.
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I don’t understand most of the criticism Gobert has received in public lately. Yeah, he’s the four-time Defensive Player of the Year, so it doesn’t look great when he gets beaten one-on-one. And yes, if you’re the Defensive Player of the Year, you’re not really allowed to have lapses.
But have we considered that Gobert’s play and presence is what gives the Timberwolves their identity? You know, the team with the NBA’s best defense? Never mind that Gobert struggled to stop Luka Doncic, one of the true offensive superstars of his generation. Never mind that he can’t single cover Nikola Jokic, the best player in the world. How many centers, any at all, do we think would’ve handled either player differently? Don’t worry, I’ll wait.
Knowing all of this, Perkins still chose to single out Gobert as his Defensive Player of the Year voting regret this season. I find it dubious that he ripped apart his own vote for Gobert because he screwed up against two of the best players in the world.
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Gradey Dick might enjoy a solid NBA career. I don’t think there’s a planet where he deserved All-Rookie honors this year, considering much of his early growing pains. But Perkins put him on his All-Rookie Second Team anyway — one of only three people to do so. This vote looks especially egregious when noting Perkins didn’t have Charlotte’s Brandon Miller on either of his All-Rookie teams. The same Brandon Miller who otherwise received 97 First Team votes after a terrific debut season as a two-way wing.