UPDATED 6/19, 4:30 p.m. ET: Kendrick Perkins appeared on First Take Friday, where he responded to Durant's comments.
"KD, my brother. Just because I don't agree with what Kyrie got going on don't mean I'm not fighting the same fight that you all are fighting," Perkins said. "I am fighting for African Americans, I been have. And that don't make you a sellout, that don't make me a sellout because I have a different opinion or disagree with someone else that's going about it another way. I actually applaud anybody that's fighting the fight right now in America."
Perkins also described an incident where Durant came to Perkins' hotel room when they were teammates in Oklahoma, and the two cried together after venting certain frustrations.
"KD, for you to call your brother a sellout, man, ay, come on, dog. You know my love is for you, you know what my love is and my heart is for you," he continued. "By the way, this same sellout, this brother that's sitting right here on this ESPN platform talking to you today, I still love you to this day, my brother."
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The calm could only last for so long.
On Wednesday, Kevin Durant stirred the pot once again when he called Kendrick Perkins a "sell out" under an Instagram post about his comments in regards to Kyrie Irving's opposition to a season restart in wake of the ongoing protests over police brutality and systemic racism across the country.
Perkins appeared on ESPN's Get Up on Tuesday and bashed Irving for showing a "lack of leadership" and accused him of being a "distraction" as the Nets star attempts to spearhead a movement pushing for the cancellation of the 2019-20 season.
Perkins argues that, as one of the NBPA's six Vice Presidents, Irving has long been involved in discussions about a return to play, and alleges that he's voted in favor of coming back. Perk is confused why he didn't go up the chain of command in the NBPA if he had an issue.
Perkins continued his diatribe against Kyrie on The D.A. Show where he accused Irving of unnecessarily creating a division between players in the league. "No one is listening to Kyrie. The NBA is going to continue," Perk said, per CBS Sports Radio. "All he's doing is causing unnecessary drama between the NBA brothers that we don’t need right now. Him lashing out is just making news and making a whole bunch of noise for nothing because the NBA season is going to happen."
Perkins has issued a warning that seems to suggest that he can unload even more, if he's pushed to do so.
Back in January, Perkins publicly tried to extend an olive branch to Durant following the tragic death of Kobe Bryant.
Perkins later explained that he wanted to live his life as Kobe would, which included getting "past differences with our brothers and move on."
Their feud started when Perkins said that Russell Westbrook was the best player to ever play for the Oklahoma City Thunder, which KD felt like was the latest in a string of personal attacks against him.
