How Kendrick Perkins earned Paul Pierce’s respect as Celtics rookie

Kendrick Perkins has taken a lot of criticism since transitioning away from the basketball court to his new career in sports media. However, during his playing days, Perkins served as a pivotal role player on the Boston Celtics, the team that drafted him in 2003 and with which he spent the first eight years of his career. And during his rookie season, a young Perk caught the attention of Paul Pierce, the Celtics’ star player.

While on a podcast co-hosted by the Knuckleheads’ Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles and Perkins’ former Celtics teammate Kevin Garnett, Perkins told a story of Pierce testing him and a few other Celtics rookies in the early 2000s.

“So he (Pierce) just comes in on one. He’s like, ‘I need to see who wants to be here.’ So we’re like, ‘S—t it’s all good, what’s up?’” Perkins said.  “So it’s like, the snow up to here [points at a few feet of snow] outside. He throws $1,500 on the ground. ‘I got $1,500 right now, anyone of you mother f—-rs, you, you, you, one of you three mother f—-rs, go outside right now in your tights and give me 100 push-ups in the snow.’ You know, Marcus (Banks) like, s–t I went lottery, I don’t need the $1,500. B-Hunt (Brandon Hunter) went second round; he ain’t really feeling that s—t. I’m like s—t, I’ll do it. I’ll do it.  So I go outside in the show in my tights and I got 100. He gave me the $1,500, I walk in, and he’s like ‘That’s what the f—k I’m talking about. He wants to be here.’

“Ever since then it was like, ‘Young fella, come to the crib, we’re playing dominoes,’ ‘Young fella, let’s go here.’ Ever since then, if P was going in the gym late night, he’d hit me up. Ever since then, it was like P my dawg.”