Kendrick Perkins has been under fire recently due to his comments claiming that most NBA voters are white — so of course the group on NBA on TNT was going to make fun of him.
When Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal and friends were taking a moment to analyze the Eastern Conference standings, Shaq said that Giannis Antetokounmpo is his MVP this season. Chuck said Shaq was only voting for him because he is black, a joke which made the entire studio pop.
Catch the full moment below:
Kendrick Perkins, ESPN Under Fire for False NBA Voters Claim
Nikola Jokic is looking more and more like the 2023 NBA MVP this season — but his scoring numbers aren’t anywhere near the likes of Joel Embiid or Luka Doncic.
Perkins initially credited this as a white voter problem in the NBA. He stated that around 80 percent of the voters for postseason awards are actually white — and in turn, vote white. That has turned out to be untrue and ESPN was forced to run a correction after JJ Redick called him out on it during First Take.
The main argument for Perkins was the fact that since 1990, only three players have won MVP ranked outside of the top-10 in scoring at the end of the season. Jokic, Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki — all white — are the only to accomplish this. Perkins failed to mention Magic Johnson’s MVP’s in 1987, ’89 and ’90. All three of which were won under the same circumstances.
Redick backed up Jokic’s MVP potential by providing advanced stats on the matter. Those included numbers that proves Jokic actually creates the best shots for himself and his teammates in the NBA. He doesn’t score 30 points a for a reason — it’s because he is literally averaging a triple double. And he is STILL averaged 24.5 points.
It doesn’t matter what you look like. You’re the NBA MVP if you’re playing the way Jokic is.