Kendrick Perkins is a controversial man these days thanks to his peculiar hot takes in relation to the game of basketball. Perkins played in the NBA for just over a decade and was known as a big man who could do some real damage in terms of physicality. This has made him a polarizing analyst with many fans loving or hating him.

During a recent appearance on ESPN's "Hoop Streams," Perkins spoke about something that occurred near the end of his career. Of course, we are talking about the infamous Steph Curry tripping incident during the 2018 NBA Finals. As Perkins describes, he still doesn't know why Curry was mad and maintains that he never did anything wrong.

Ever since Kobe Bryant's tragic passing, there have been some incredible stories going around about Kobe and just how funny and great of a person he was. While he could be ruthless with his teammates, he was always doing it in good fun, while also providing an edge to show people that he was very serious about winning championships.

Recently, Jeremy Lin, who played with Kobe during the 2014-2015 season, told a story on Danny Green's podcast about just how dry Kobe's sense of humor was. As he explains, Kobe once showed up to practice just to pour salt in the wounds of those who were supposedly on the trading block. Of course, this occurred one day before the deadline.

At the trade deadline this season, the Golden State Warriors dealt D’Angelo Russell to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for Andrew Wiggins. Wiggins had some frustrating years in Minnesota and it was clear that he needed a fresh start. The Canadian was coming to a team that needed some offense without Klay Thompson and Steph Curry in the lineup and that’s exactly what he was able to provide. Now, there is speculation as to what will happen to Wiggins next.

According to Anthony Slater of The Athletic, the Warriors are actually very impressed with Wiggins and want him to be a starter next season. Essentially, all signs point to Wiggins being the starting small forward on the Warriors next season.

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“But, ask anyone in the organization — during their private or public moments — they got Wiggins with the expectation that he’ll be their starting small forward next season, not just a matching contract to flip (like they did with [D’Angelo] Russell),” Slater wrote. “They are aggressive but rational.”

Wiggins might not be the star he was projected to be but he can still add some offense to any lineup and moving forward, his output will be crucial to the success of his new team. Hopefully, for him, he is able to deliver.

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It's been a rough time for sports fans around the world as we have very little to watch these days. Luckily, sports like MMA and soccer are making a slow return to action although basketball still seems fairly far away from coming back. In the interim, video game companies have been trying to fill the gaps, including Take-Two Interactive who have been putting together an NBA 2K "Simulation Tournament." Essentially, they simulated the rest of the season and then simulated the playoffs.

Throughout the last few weeks, the Los Angeles Lakers and Milwaukee Bucks were able to claw their way into the NBA Finals. In the most recent simulation, the Lakers won the championship in seven games and Anthony Davis was able to secure Finals MVP. In fact, the Lakers were even down 3-1 in the series but were able to come roaring back.

LaMelo Ball had a very interesting year in Australia and now that he owns the team he played for, he is ready to move on and get drafted into the NBA this year. Many believe he could be the first overall pick while others are more conservative in predicting that he will at least be in the top five. There is a whole slew of bottom-feeding teams that will be eligible for Ball and it will be interesting to see where he ends up landing. 

As you can imagine, LaMelo’s father LaVar has his own plans for the future superstar and is letting it be known that he wants Melo to go to the New York Knicks. The Knicks might be a terrible team but they get all of the attention and as we know, LaVar loves himself some attention.

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LaVar had vouched for the Knicks a while back but he reiterated his position while on Complex’s “Load Management” podcast. The Knicks aren’t guaranteed to get a lottery pick but the odds of them getting one is still pretty high. If other teams see that LaMelo only has eyes for the Knicks, perhaps they will pass him up and New York can get lucky.

However, this all rides on whether or not the Knicks even want LaMelo and what comes with him. Needless to say, this situation is about to get interesting.

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For years, the NBA has been using Spalding basketballs, and players have grown to be quite comfortable with them. In fact, Spalding created the very first basketball back in the 1800s which just goes to show that their equipment is pretty legendary and has a ton of historical significance. Despite all of this, it appears as though the NBA will be moving on from Spalding and instead, will you Wilson balls moving forward. 

This was a huge shock to fans and, more importantly, the players in the NBA who actually have to deal with the new equipment. In fact, Kevin Durant had some commentary on the matter, saying "Oh hell nah" when presented with the new facts. Clearly, he and some of his peers throughout the league are a bit worried about how the Wilson balls will stack up.

Dwight Howard's first stint with the Los Angeles Lakers was certainly one to forget as his arrival to L.A. was tainted by chemistry issues and injuries to numerous notable players on the roster. Not to mention, Howard didn't have the best chemistry with Kobe Bryant, who later called Howard "soft" as a member of the Houston Rockets. Now, Howard is back on the Lakers and is having a career resurgence as he is used as a role player who can make big plays for you down the stretch.

Recently, Howard hopped on Instagram live with Lakers teammate Jared Dudley, where he spoke about his first sting with the Lakers and why it didn't work out. As reporter Melissa Rohlin transcribed, Howard said that egos and his desire to be "the man" got in the way.

If you’re a basketball fan, by now you’ve probably heard about Michael Jordan and his infamous “Flu Game” from Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals against the Utah Jazz. Despite looking as if he was going to faint, Jordan put up a whopping 38 points en-route to a 90-88 win that had the whole basketball world in shock. At the end of the game, Jordan had to be helped off the court by Scottie Pippen as the fans in Utah couldn’t believe what they had just witnessed.

During an appearance on “Pardon My Take,” Jordan’s trainer Tim Grover spoke about the “Flu Game” and explained that it wasn’t actually the flu. Instead, Jordan had eaten some bad pizza the night before and it was wreaking havoc on his stomach.

“Then, about 3 o’ clock in the morning, I get a call to my room that just says, ‘Hey, man, come to MJ’s room’ and he’s literally curled up in the fetal position,” Grover said. “I’ve not known any flu that can hit you that fast, but I know how quick food poisoning can hit you.”

Grover noted that he was apprehensive about MJ eating the pizza because five delivery men had come to the door. Clearly, Grover seems to think there may have been some sabotage at play and that MJ was falling into a really elaborate trap.

Either way, everything worked out for the Bulls legend.

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During the 1995-96 season, the Chicago Bulls went on an insane run in which they went 72-10 and won the NBA championship. It was a massive accomplishment as they picked up the best record in NBA history while also picking up a fourth title. Twenty years later, the Golden State Warriors broke the Bulls regular-season record by going 73-9. Things didn't work out so well for the Warriors in the end as they ended up losing to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals.

The one parallel between both of those teams was Steve Kerr. Kerr was a point guard on the Bulls and was the coach of the Warriors. During the most recent episode of "The Last Dance," Kerr explained that the better of the two teams was, indeed, the 72-10 Bulls. 

Reggie Miller was always one of the more formidable foes in NBA history thanks to his brand of trash talk and three-point shooting. Unfortunately, he was never able to get over the hump and win an NBA championship, even though he made it to the Finals back in the year 2000. In 1998, Miller went up against Jordan in the Eastern Conference Finals, which as we all know by now, Jordan won en-route to his sixth championship.

In “The Last Dance,” Miller spoke about going up against MJ and what he was hoping to accomplish at the time. As he explains, Miller had the mentality that he was going to force Jordan into retirement.

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“We all looked at the Bulls as the standard model of success,” Miller said,  Brad Botkin of CBS Sports. “They were considered the best at that time. But we felt, and I feel to this day, we were the better team. The whole thing is, there was whispers that this was going to be Mike’s last year. So I think a perfect storm was brewing. In my mind, I was thinking … ‘this is it. You’re going to retire Michael Jordan.’”

Jordan eventually did retire after that season although it had absolutely nothing to do with Miller and the Pacers. Jordan always seemed to have Miller’s number and that never changed up until the very end.