Kendrick Perkins criticizes JJ Redick’s ‘behavior’ for publicly throwing Dalton Knecht under the bus

Former player turned analyst Kendrick Perkins responded to Los Angeles Lakers coach JJ Redick’s comments after the game on Tuesday.

After a 132-108 loss to the Phoenix Suns, Redick criticized his team’s physicality and lack of defensive effort. On Wednesday’s episode of “First Take,” Perkins criticized the Lakers coach for his “pattern” of publicly calling out his players.

“First of all, that’s not it,” Perkins said. “It made me think of JJ and this was a pattern of behavior for him in these rants. … It’s not funny and nice to those guys in the locker room. JJ has a problem with himself when he calls out his players publicly in the media because that’s not all he said.”

Perkins added that calling out players publicly is not the hallmark of a Championship coach.

“We have championship coaches in the league today who have real chips that don’t call their players that way,” Perkins said. “If you’re JJ, yeah, you want to get the best out of your players. Yeah, you want your guys to come out and compete every night at a high level, especially on the defensive side.”

“But also JJ, you have to have a level of accountability and a level of showing that you’re not going to put your players under the bus every time things don’t go the way you want them to go.”

In his postgame comments on Tuesday, Redick was asked about Los Angeles’ defense off the ball and helping out on defense. The Lakers coach criticized an unnamed player for not knowing a certain play.

“We had a guy the other day who hadn’t played much and didn’t know what a ‘flood’ was in the middle of the game,” Reddick said.

While Redick did not mention names, many fans speculated he was referring to Dalton Knecht, the Lakers’ 17th overall pick in 2024, who has had a number of defensive lapses.

Knecht has had a disappointing season so far in his second season, as his production has declined across the board. In 23 games, he averaged 5.7 points and 1.9 rebounds in 14.5 minutes.

Kendrick Perkins says Lakers need to improve defense to be ‘legitimate title contender’

In the same appearance on “First Take,” ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins said the Los Angeles Lakers “are not a legitimate title contender right now.” Perkins agreed with co-host Marcus Spears in saying that NBA teams that can’t defend won’t win the title.

“The Lakers are putting up big numbers on offense, and that should get you through the regular season,” Perkins said Wednesday. “But we’re talking about one of the greatest teams in basketball in the Los Angeles Lakers, where the standard is championships. To win a championship, you have to defend.”

Entering their Christmas Day game against the Houston Rockets, the Lakers sit fourth in the Western Conference with a record of 19-9. They have been elite offensively, ranking seventh in the league in offensive rating (117.8). However, they are tied for 23rd in defensive rating (117.6).