Kendrick Perkins wasn’t going to let Stephen A. Smith disrespect Jalen Brunson like that.
The Knicks star was snubbed from being an NBA All-Star starter for the Eastern Conference, finishing third among guards behind the Pacers’ Tyrese Haliburton and the Bucks’ Damian Lillard.
The fan votes had Brunson five and Lillard was used as a tiebreaker for the final spot.
Smith, a longtime Knicks fan, made an appearance on ESPN’s “NBA Today” on Friday and didn’t seem to have an issue with Brunson not getting the nod.
“Jalen Brunson is a star and deserves all the credit in the world, but I’m sorry,” Smith said. “There’s a reason the fans, the media and the players all voted for Haliburton over Brunson.”
Perkins, who played 14 seasons in the NBA, was having none of it and even went as far as to say Smith and the Knicks themselves are part of the reason why Brunson is not getting the recognition he deserves.
“You stay right there and you fix your body language,” Perkins told Smith. “You know what the problem is? The problem is you are a prime example, along with the organization, of not promoting this man of what he is.
“When you talk about putting up the numbers with the best of them, when you talk about his production, I should go to New York and land and walk through LaGuardia or any airport and see posters of Jalen Brunson.”
Smith said he voted for Brunson over Lillard, but had the Knicks guard behind Haliburton, a point guard, and the Cavaliers’ shooting guard Donovan Mitchell.
Brunson, 27, is having a fantastic season for the Knicks, who are in fifth place in the East at 28-17 and coming off a demolishing of the defending NBA champion Nuggets on Thursday night.
He is averaging 26.5 points per game, 6.4 assists and 3.8 rebounds and is often the Knicks’ best player in the clutch.
Perkins has been vocal about Brunson not getting enough respect.
“Jalen Brunson not being an All-Star starter in the Eastern Conference is a damn tragedy!” he wrote on X on Thursday. “I can’t wait until tomorrow when I get in front of that camera on NBA Today! That’s some BS! Carry the hell on…”
He isn’t the only NBA analyst speaking up for Brunson.
Charles Barkley also stood up for the Knicks guard during TNT’s NBA coverage on Thursday night, noting that the former Villanova star has “made the New York Knicks relevant for the first time since Patrick Ewing.”
“I’m never gonna show throw shade at Dame Lillard,” Barkley said. “I love him as a person and as a player, but I would have loved to see Jalen Brunson be a starter.”
The reserves for the team are still to be decided by the players and coaches and making his first All-Star game remains a goal for Brunson, who congratulated Lillard on being named a starter.
“Definitely a goal of mine,” Brunson said. “But most important thing is how we handle business, day in, day out. Obviously that’s an individual goal. But as long as we win, I think individual stuff comes our way.”