The Kendrick Perkins, Charles Barkley feud has reignited as of right now.
It all started when Barkley, during an Inside the NBA pregame show Thursday evening, addressed Perkins, calling him and his ESPN co-workers a "fool idiot" for saying earlier this week that the Los Angeles Lakers (equipped with a very spry LeBron James and newly acquired Luka Dončić) are the saving grace of the NBA.
"I want all the smoke," Barkley said. "The Lakers are doing great, got a long way to go." He then argued that his soon-to-be ESPN co-workers are just fixated on the Lakers and are overlooking the great seasons other elite teams, like the Oklahoma City Thunder and Cleveland Cavaliers, are having.
He continued: "Y'all are idiots because y'all talk about the Lakers and the Warriors all the time. Y'all are talking about who is in second place. That's the reason I get pissed." He closed out his argument by saying that Perk and the ESPN crew were only talking about teams that had "two great weeks."
Perk didn't waste any time with the Round Mound of Rebound, taking to X, formerly Twitter, with some spicy words of his own. "Hey @NBAonTNT might wanna tell that senior citizen Charles Barkley that I’ll be around," Perkins wrote. "When he see an idiot or fool in person make sure he keep that same energy. He can come playing with me if he want to and imma Address his ass like the numbers on a house. Straight from the 409 homeboy and we bar none and fade all. #TexasBoy."
It didn't take long for ESPN First Take star Stephen A. Smith to chime in on the matter, coming to the defense of his co-workers in a message shared on Twitter.
"Yo Chuck, stop the b.s. with the “y’all.” Attach a name to it. I know I’ve been talking about @cavs being the No.1 threat to the @Celtics. Once you come over here, there’s gonna be some folks waiting to call YOU a fool. P.S. You know I love ya, though. See y’all soon. Yo @TheJetOnTNT….workbook those free throws😀. Love y’all," he wrote in response to Barkley's words.
This isn't the first time Perkins and Barkley have engaged in a back-and-forth. Last April, Perkins criticized the guys at Inside the NBA for "obviously" not watching basketball, disagreeing with some of the takes they were making at the time. In response, Shaquille O'Neal and Barkley called Perkins a "roach" and smacked a punching bag with his face on it.