Two weeks ago, former Oklahoma City Thunder teammates Kendrick Perkins and Kevin Durant were publicly airing out their grievances in a Twitter feud.
But amid Sunday’s news of NBA legend Kobe Bryant’s shocking death in a helicopter crash that also killed his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, Perkins extended an olive branch to Durant.
“Speechless…,” Perkins, now retired from the NBA, initially tweeted after news broke that Bryant was one of nine people who were killed in the crash.
“Just wanted to tell you I Love you my brother and whatever I did to hurt you I’m sorry bro and hope you forgive me!!! I love you bro real Talk! @KDTrey5,” Perkins said in a followup tweet.
Durant, who is out for the season (Achilles) after signing with the Nets this offseason, hasn’t publicly responded to Perkins. Durant’s teammate Kyrie Irving missed Sunday’s loss to the Knicks as he grieved Bryant’s death.
Perkins, who last played for the Cavaliers in 2018, tweeted on Jan. 9 that he thought Russell Westbrook was “the best player to have ever put on an Oklahoma City Thunder jersey.” And when he was questioned about Westbrook’s lack of playoff success without Durant, Perkins said, “KD lost in the second round without Russ when I was there. So what that mean?”






“Yea and our starting center @KendrickPerkins averaged a whopping 2 and 3 during that series,” Durant wrote in response. “U played hard tho champ lol.”
The former teammates, who played together in Oklahoma City from 2011 to 2015 and were believed to be good friends, continued to go back and forth — with Perkins taking shots at Durant’s controversial decision to leave the Thunder for Golden State.
But Bryant’s death deeply affected Perkins.
“My new motto with everything is, What Would Kobe do?” Perkins later tweeted. “He’d want us to focus more on the loss of his daughter. He’d want us to get past differences with our brothers and move on. He’d never want the game to be cancelled or be stopped. He’d want us to keep going! #RIPKOBE.”



