Winning the regular season MVP award is an honor that every NBA player dreams of taking home one day. But each season, only one superstar in the NBA can fulfill that dream.
Former NBA superstar Charles Barkley was given that honor in the 1992-93 NBA season. Speaking of Barkley, he recently made an appearance on ‘Altitude Sports Radio’ where he dismissed Kendrick Perkins’ ridiculous argument about white MVP voters only voting for white players to win the MVP award.
“Hey man, I’m trying to work on my golf game, and you’re already trying to make me talk about stupid stuff. Come on, man,” Barkley said. “That’s asinine, silly, and stupid. Listen, Joker has won 2 MVPs, well deserved. Him, Giannis, and Embiid are battling for the 3rd one this year. But the notion that people are voting, I mean you can probably count on one hand the white guys that won MVPs. Does he even know how many white voters are out there? Or did he just pull it out of his a**?
Barkley continued blasting Perkins and even pointed out that if that’s the case, then why white players have won the MVP award just five times in the last 30 years?
“And if white voters want to vote only for white guys, why has a white guy only won it like 5 times in the last 30 years?” Chuck added. “Wouldn’t the numbers be way worse? And let me tell you something, I’m glad JJ challenged Perkins, ’cause when I heard this for the first time last week, I said this has to be one of the most stupid things I’ve ever heard.”
(Starts at 1:22)
Since becoming an NBA analyst, Kendrick Perkins has built a reputation for giving scorching hot takes about the league.
However, there are times when Perkins is simply wrong. His recent take about white players getting favored by white MVP voters was one of them, as it simply doesn’t make any sense.
How Many White Players Have Won The MVP Award In The Last 30 Years?
Over the last few days, it feels like Kendrick Perkins has made it his life’s mission to berate Nikola Jokic and other white players. JJ Redick has been constantly fighting against that and is doing a pretty good job at it as well.
Anyway, let’s take a look at Charles Barkley’s counterpoint for Perkins’ ridiculous take. In the last 30 seasons, there have indeed been five times when a white player has won the MVP award.
Nikola Jokic won it in 2021 and 2022, Dirk Nowitzki was named the league’s MVP in 2007, and of course, Steve Nash won back-to-back MVP awards in 2005 and 2006.
Apart from these five instances, every player that has won the MVP award isn’t of white origin. The race of the player hardly plays a role in winning the MVP award. After all, Larry Bird was the last player in the NBA to win three consecutive MVP awards.
Bird didn’t win those awards because he was white. He was simply the best player in the league during those seasons.
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