Kendrick Perkins arrested in hometown of Beaumont, Texas
UPDATE: Via the AP: “A statement from police in Beaumont, Texas, said officers saw a large crowd outside The Ticket night club just after 2 a.m., and received complaints of fights and pepper spray inside. An officer saw about 50 people inside around Perkins, who police said was attempting to fight the club’s manager. The statement said the crowd pushed Perkins out the back door of the club, where he continued to yell obscenities and start other fights.”
According to KFDM in Texas, Kendrick Perkins was arrested in his hometown of Beaumont, TX early Saturday morning. He was booked at about 4:00 a.m. on charges of public intoxication and disorderly conduct.
Perkins posted bond of $150 and were shortly released. (An initial report had Stephen Jackson arrested with Perk, but that has now been changed.)
So, what happened? According to MediaTakeoutOut.com‘s ridiculous account (which is always shady), Perkins, along with Stephen Jackson and potentially Rajon Rondo, all were involved in some kind of altercation outside of a Beaumont club. The group, along with Eric Maynor, James Harden and Kevin Durant, were all to be in town for Perkins’ basketball camp and celebrity game. However, the celebrity game was cancelled after Perkins reportedly had an incident in Jackson’s Port Arthur home late Thursday.
According to reports, a “27-year-old male” was taken from Jackson’s home via ambulance to a hospital (Perkins is a 27-year-old male). He was treated for “minor injuries” and released. A spokesman for Perkins said that the Thunder center was suffering from dehydration and was told to rest.
All the details are very sketchy and there’s no real known facts at this point, but here’s what we know: Perkins was arrested. For what exactly, isn’t known. Fighting? Being loud? Being drunk? Getting tangled up with someone, scowling nastily and then going forehead-to-forehead with them? Who knows. Regardless, for the Oklahoma City Thunder, this is the first black eye the squeaky clean franchise has taken. The worst thing before this? Probably either Nate Robinson peeing in public or Nenad Krstic chucking at chair at someone. Or just Robert Swift’s presence on the roster. Hard to really decide.
Hey, a first for everything, right you guys?
Obviously there can’t be any discipline, at least not right now, because the players are locked out. Lucky you, Perk.
But once the players return, I’m curious as to if general manager Sam Presti will take any action on it. Like I said, the Thunder are run as a very clean-cut, no nonsense type of franchise. The idea is to give a conservative community a high character team to root for. So clearly, this isn’t going to be something the Thunder are happy about.
In reality, this isn’t a serious infraction. Perk got drunk and probably made a little scene outside of a bar in his hometown. But it is something, which is already one more incident than the Thunder were hoping for this summer.