• Kendrick Perkins has finally addressed his controversial comments during the 2023 MVP race
• Perkins claimed Nikola Jokic had an edge over Joel Embiid for the award due to the color of his skin, prompting a controversy
• Perkins recently defended what he had said
Kendrick Perkins got into hot water earlier this year while saying that NBA MVP voters are racist during a tight race between Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid.
Perkins has addressed those comments and categorically said that rooting for someone with your own skin color isn’t the same as being racist.
“Me and JJ got into a heated debate. I love JJ, but the only problem I had was that he said I ‘accuse’ people of being racist. I don’t accuse anybody of that. Correct me if I’m wrong, racist means that you hate someone of another color. When Obama ran for President, I know Black people that never voted in their life, me personally, I never voted. You know how I rushed to vote for Obama because I wanted to see a Black President? Just because you may be rooting for someone of your own kind doesn’t make you racist.”
"Racist means that you hate someone of another color… Just because you root for someone of your own kind doesn't make you racist."
Kendrick Perkins addressed the Nikola Jokic MVP argument that he had with JJ Redick 🗣️
(via @PatBevPod)pic.twitter.com/gkgRxMa5Cl
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) August 9, 2023
Perkins had given iffy examples of modern white MVP’s not being top-10 in scoring as his argument for racism, something that brought out JJ Redick and made the conversation even more contentious.
Perkins openly campaigned for Embiid to win the regular season MVP, something that did end up happening. Instead, Jokic settled on winning a championship, something that voters in the league do not control.
Regular Season MVP Losing Its Value?
The last player to win a regular season MVP and then follow it up with a Finals MVP in the same season was LeBron James in 2012 and 2013. MVP winners since then can’t seem to get the job done in the same year as their coronation as MVP.
Russell Westbrook, James Harden, and Joel Embiid are active MVPs from the last 10 seasons to not win a championship yet. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic both won two consecutive regular-season MVP trophies but won the title and Finals MVP the year they failed to win MVP.
Embiid averaged a sensational 33.1 points, 10.2 rebounds, and 4.2 assists per game last season to earn the award. But when those numbers dropped to 23.7 points, 9.8 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per game in the playoffs, he became the only MVP in league history to never make a Conference Finals appearance.
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