Jackson State has named former NBA basketball player Kendrick Perkins as their new general manager according to Sean Keeley of Awful Announcing on Friday. Perkins, a native of Nederland, Texas, plans to work in a dual role this upcoming season. That is because Perkins has no intention of leaving his job as a basketball analyst for ESPN.
Perkins was a veteran center in the National Basketball Association from 2003 to 2018 with four franchises. He was with the Boston Celtics for eight seasons from 2003 to 2011, with the Oklahoma City Thunder for five seasons from 2011 to 2015, the the Cleveland Cavaliers for two seasons in two different stints (2015 and 2018), and one season with the New Orleans Pelicans from 2015 to 2016.
Recognized as a defensive specialist, Perkins received one Defensive Player of the Year point when it came to voting during the 2009-10 NBA regular season. In 782 games, he had 5.8 total rebounds per game and 1.2 blocks per game. Perkins also had a field goal percentage of .530, and free throw percentage of .594. He averaged 5.4 points per game, and one assist per game.
It is interesting that Perkins averaged more rebounds per game than points per game. He was part of the Celtics team that won the 2008 NBA Finals. Boston defeated the Los Angeles Lakers four games to two.
The fact that Jackson State has hired Perkins for this role is rather interesting. That is because Perkins has been a high profile analyst for ESPN over the last few years and believes he can do both jobs at a high level. At times, Perkins has been very controversial. He was critical of Nikola Jokic receiving NBA MVP consideration in the past.
