Kendrick Perkins’ NBA career simply will not die.
The Cleveland Cavaliers will sign Perkins on Wednesday to fill their final roster spot entering the playoffs, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Dave McMenamin reported Monday night.
To be clear, the Cavs don’t expect Perkins to add much on the court: The 33-year-old hasn’t played an NBA game in nearly two full seasons and averaged just 8.7 points and 7.1 rebounds over 21 games this season for the Canton Charge, Cleveland’s G League affiliate.
Instead, the club is bringing on Perkins for the “veteran leadership he can provide to the Cavs’ locker room,” league sources told ESPN.
Perkins won an NBA title with the Boston Celtics in 2008 and has made it the NBA Finals three other times, most recently with the Cavs in 2015. He has a reputation for being a great “locker room guy,” so much so that Cavs players reportedly were upset when the team didn’t re-sign him during the 2015 offseason.
Just what impact Perkins can make remains to be seen for a Cleveland team that sits fourth in the Eastern Conference with one game remaining in the regular season.
