NBA great's alarming $26k surprise from 'free' video game

They say you can't put a price on time spent with your family, but unfortunately for Kendrick Perkins, that old adage doesn't quite ring true.

The former NBA star, like many of his current contemporaries navigating through the COVID-19 shutdown, has been spending a lot more quality time with his loved ones in isolation.

'HE WAS MAD': Ex-teammate reveals NBA All-Star's contempt for white players

SAY WHAT: LeBron James sued for posting photo of himself

Perkins - an NBA championship winner with the Boston Celtics in 2008 - has two young children who have turned to video games to help get them through the countless hours stuck inside.

"I hate video games. My kids drive me crazy with it," Perkins told ESPN’s Hoop Streams on Tuesday.

"In my house there’s nothing but Fortnite, NBA2K – it just drives me crazy."

The 35-year-old - who retired from the NBA in 2018 - says a recent trip to the shops merely cemented his dislike for video games and exposed a gaping hole in his bank balance.

“I go to the store to buy something, credit card declined,” Perkins explained.

“I get my credit card bill back. Come to find out, I got US$16,000 ($A26,000) worth of Fortnite bills on my credit card.

“It was from buying skins every day, whatever that is. I don’t even know what it is.”

For anyone playing at home, skins are the various outfits players can acquire in the game - both for free and as in-game cash purchases.

The stinging sense of irony for Perkins is that the game is free to download and play, but it makes an astronomical amount of money from gamers eager to purchase additional content.

It is estimated over 250 million people have downloaded Fortnite worldwide, across the various gaming platforms.

New Michael Jordan documentary coming to screens soon

While his kids may or may not continue to use video games to pass the time, Perkins can look forward to a new Michael Jordan documentary that has the basketball world giddy with excitement.

The long-awaited look at Jordan’s last championship season with the Chicago Bulls is finally set for release.

ESPN and Netflix announced on Tuesday that the 10-part documentary series called “The Last Dance” will run in the States over five consecutive Sunday nights starting April 19 and running through to May 17.

There will be two hour-long episodes on each of those nights, airing back-to-back.

“April 19th can’t come fast enough. I CAN NOT WAIT!!” Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James tweeted upon hearing news of the series’ long-awaited release.

The series will include never-before-seen footage from that season, one where the team chased its sixth championship in a span of eight years.

“As society navigates this time without live sports, viewers are still looking to the sports world to escape and enjoy a collective experience,” ESPN said in a statement.

“We’ve heard the calls from fans asking us to move up the release date for this series, and we’re happy to announce that we’ve been able to accelerate the production schedule to do just that.”

ESPN was originally planning to release the documentary in June, when this season’s NBA Finals were to be played. Without sports to air right now because of the global coronavirus pandemic, those plans were accelerated.

The documentary is nearly a quarter-century in the making. It was born in the fall of 1997 when Jordan, Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf and coach Phil Jackson allowed an NBA Entertainment film crew permission to follow the team all season.

ESPN said the series includes “extensive profiles of Jordan’s key teammates including Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman and Steve Kerr,” along with Jackson.

“Michael Jordan and the ‘90s Bulls weren't just sports superstars, they were a global phenomenon,” said Jason Hehir, who directed the series. “Making ‘The Last Dance’ was an incredible opportunity to explore the extraordinary impact of one man and one team. For nearly three years, we searched far and wide to present the definitive story of an era-defining dynasty and to present these sports heroes as humans.”

The series will air in the USA on ESPN and internationally on Netflix.

with agencies