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One of the most outspoken members of that Thunder team in recent years has been Kendrick Perkins who was little more than a role player on those OKC teams. During a recent appearance on ‘Road Trippin,’ with Richard Jefferson and Channing Frye, Kendrick Perkins recalled a time from those Thunder teams when Scott Brooks called out both Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook for being too selfish on the court. “We’re in New York, we’re playing the Brooklyn Nets. I was in Oklahoma City and we lost. KD and Russ, we had 92 shot attempts as a team. KD and Russ took 80 of them,” Perkins said. “We walked up in the practice gym afterwards and he [Scott Brooks] told Thabo [Sefolosha], we’re all huddled up at half court. Scott Brooks gave the ball to Thabo and he said, ‘Here Thabo, shoot the ball two times.’ Thabo took two shots.”
Tomer Azarly: Tyronn Lue on game planning with a stretch-5 in Brook Lopez on the Clippers: “I’m back to my Channing Frye and Kevin Love days back in Cleveland. Just a lot of stuff that I’m comfortable with and he’s getting comfortable with now.”
Tyronn Lue on game planning with a stretch-5 in Brook Lopez on the Clippers:
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) October 14, 2025
“I’m back to my Channing Frye and Kevin Love days back in Cleveland. Just a lot of stuff that I’m comfortable with and he’s getting comfortable with now.” pic.twitter.com/bQObwSBAWk
Who have been some of your favorite NBA colleagues to share wine with? CJ McCollum: I'm from Ohio, so I've obviously drank wine with LeBron. Kevin Love has a great palate. He drinks a variety of wine. Channing Frye. Carmelo Anthony always brings some unique wines and he’s heavy on white burgundy. Terry Stotts has a good palate. Coach Willie Green enjoys his wine. I've shared some different Pinots with him. It’s cool to drink with players, but I would say I enjoy drinking wine with my wife the most. We've got special occasion bottles. Birthday and celebratory bottles. Birth year bottles. We enjoy opening a bottle and sharing stories. We've had some unique experiences over the course of our life.
Richard Jefferson: Let me say this: I’m not accusing anybody. I'm saying there are scenarios where things like this can go on without a player’s knowledge—because it’s happened to me personally. Right, Channing? I think you had an experience early in your career too. Channing Frye: Yeah. Richard Jefferson: So we can't speak on what Kawhi did or didn’t know. There are scenarios where Kawhi did know. There are also scenarios where he didn’t know and this was a backdoor deal. We don’t know. And we might never know—because it would basically take a confession.
When the topic was first mentioned during the episode, Frye started the segment by questioning the motive behind Torre’s investigation, per ESPN’s Road Trippin. “First of all, why you snitchin? Who cares? Do you know how much this lemon perfect bottle was? Probably 28 cents. This is what Steve Ballmer thinks of $28 million. He’s oh, here you go. You want this? He don’t care,” Frye said. “Also, why you snitchin? The reporter’s snitchin.”
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Co-host Richard Jefferson reminded Channing Frye that it’s Pablo Torre’s job to investigate, whereas the player — Leonard — is supposed to keep the reported endorsement deal a secret. “The reporter’s job is to snitch. Our job is to keep it quiet, right?” Ballmer didn’t tell,” Jefferson said. “Kawhi didn’t tell. So, Pablo’s doing what he’s supposed to do and he’s doing an absolute great job. Shout him out for this investigation. Again, all of these things are allegedly.”
Richard Jefferson: My favorite story with Channing Frye talking sh*t about how his car didn't have AC… He goes, "My car didn't have AC." And Dwyane Wade was like, "Bro, we didn't have heat in my house growing up.”
Channing Frye: I will say this—my understanding was that Kevin was going to be that next guy for Miami, right? Clarify 'next'—the next UD. The next guy who was keeping that locker room solid. Your 15th guy, your number one guy, your coach, your GM, your owner—they all need to be on the same page. They need to buy into what you're selling. And Kevin was bought in a thousand percent in Miami. Now, do things happen? Yes. But I think—when you’re telling somebody at that age, 'Hey, we want you here,' you’ve got to give them a call to explain like, 'Hey, here’s why you’re going here. Here’s our thought process.' Just that level of respect. It’s not like it would’ve changed anything—but the communication is what I didn’t appreciate necessarily. I think Kevin should either go to New York, Portland, or Cleveland. That’s just my three places."
Channing Frye: "So now you’re in L.A.—and I had a quick little hop and a jump in L.A.—and let me tell you: players fall in love with being famous more than winning in L.A. Okay? So, if you don’t have that motor, that sickness to be great in a place like L.A., you’re going to start thinking, 'Well, it wasn’t my fault' or 'It was someone else.' You stop grinding. Then you’re playing with Luka, and you’re playing with Bron, and now you’re even more famous—for doing nothing. You could literally do nothing and still be famous."
NBA TV will offer nightly studio coverage of the NBA Finals. GameTime Live at the Finals will feature analysts such as Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, and Kenny Smith of TNT’s iconic Inside the NBA, as well as Grant Hill, Isiah Thomas, Candace Parker, Steve Smith, Brendan Haywood, and Channing Frye.
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Channing Frye: And then two, Bronny had his heart issue, and he was at the Mayo Clinic that same week. So to be like, ‘Oh, why weren’t you at D-Wade’s thing?’ Well, he was in the hospital with his son getting heart surgery. So let’s just please get your facts right so that we can continue talking about this and not basketball.
Channing Frye: I genuinely—and everyone who works for the NBA genuinely—wants the Knicks to be good and to go far in the playoffs. You have to be out of your damn mind to just look at stats and think, "Oh, this is normal," to play your starters an average of 37–38 minutes and think that they are going to be healthy and energetic at the end of the year. You have to relieve your starters so that they can play at a certain level of basketball—that is Knicks basketball. My point was, literally, because the Knicks are good, I don't want to see them get injured. My perspective is coming from a player who has played with players who have been on Thibs' teams, where I said, "Damn, if you're number eight, you ain't getting no run."
Jamal Crawford: I think Channing was obviously giving this generation props—as they should get—but I didn't agree with why he thought that nostalgia was killing this generation and why this game is hated on right now. It's not about that. It's things that are going on that are not cool—let's just call it what it is. Like the load management thing. I said 15 years ago: If we're going to load manage, load manage in practice. Let these dudes play. We don't want to see—if we buy tickets months in advance—that they're not playing. The game looks the same, Channing. It's plug-and-play in most places. 90% of the league looks the same, so the creativity is kind of gone. I'm not knocking the players, but as we all know, it's a copycat league. So with that, there's going to be, 'Oh, if they're successful doing it, we're going to try to copy.'
Jamal Crawford: Certain guys—the ones who stand out—LeBron, Steph, Jokic, Luka—all these dudes stand out because they don’t look like everybody else. They're not falling into the trap of, 'Our teams have to play this way for us to be successful.' They're not doing that. So I hear what you were saying, but I didn't agree, because you're basically using the fact that we're so caught up in the old eras that we're not appreciating this new era—and to me, that's false."