Kendrick Perkins doesn’t work an audience so much as he draws one, one well-wisher at a time.
Posting up courtside on the edge of the Warriors bench a couple of hours before Game 5 of the NBA Finals, the former Celtics power forward is there to chat with a reporter about his ascent as an analyst for ESPN and, locally, at NBC Sports Boston.
But as Perkins — “Perk” to just about everyone, whether they know him personally or not — elaborates on how he never planned on a media career during his playing days and how his popularity as a talking head is a surprise to him, he is greeted by a conga line of friends, colleagues, fellow media folks, and NBA cognoscenti.