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Serge Ibaka has defended Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant after former teammate Kendrick Perkins' comments on the two. Ibaka also criticized Perkins for his actions in the past.
Russ and KD played together in Oklahoma, and the roster also featured Serge Ibaka, James Harden and Kendrick Perkins amongst others.
For a brief moment in time, the OKC Thunder were one of the best teams in the NBA. With Durant and Westbrook combining to form an electrifying duo, the Thunder were undoubtedly a force to be reckoned with.
Needless to say, this also saw them make deep playoff runs. Unfortunately for OKC, however, they always came up just short of their goal. This repeated cycle of failure eventually led to the breakup of the duo and gradually, the whole unit.
However, Ibaka continues to stand up for and defend his teammates against criticism, even when it is from someone on the inside.
The recent controversies sparked by comments made by ESPN analyst and former OKC Thunder player Kendrick Perkins saw immediate retorts from Ibaka. In what started as a comment on Ibaka's age, the Bucks center addressed some comments made by Perkins regarding Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant.
Ibaka tweeted out his response to Perkins and said:
"If I was 30 in OKC I guess I am 45 now? The truth is I never lied about my age and I work extremely hard everyday without cheating and I have never been suspended. Everyone in the league knows that. You cheated and didn't respect the game.
"Although I am disappointed I am not surprised to see these actions from someone who got his job by breaking the locker room code and by spreading lies about two of his former teammates and brothers like KD and Russ."
Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant have received alot of criticism in their careers. However, Ibaka didn't like Perkins' take.
Serge Ibaka's comment highlighted Perkins' actions when he criticized his teammates for bad games behind their backs. While the center expressed that, as a media personality, Perkins had a job to do to put food on the table, he maintained that the analyst had gone too far.
Kendrick Perkins responds to Serge Ibaka
Kendrick Perkins found himself in a complicated situation after Serge Ibaka called him out for incessant criticism of Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant. However, the ESPN analyst was not ready to take things lying down.
The controversial exchange continued after Serge Ibaka's comments as Perkins responded to the tweets made by his former teammate. He said:
"Did you say spreading lies at @sergeibaka ? Please don’t get me started homie!!!! Please don’t. I’m not about to talk about those OKC days and what you were doing in that locker room. I will not… but you definitely need to stop because you know I KNOW!!!! Carry on tho…"
Perkins' response was laced with potentially critical information that could only add to the controversy. The narrative is slowly shifting away from the criticism directed towards Durant and Westbrook as the situation gets increasingly heated.
