Charles Barkley’s not done with Kendrick Perkins yet. Just days after slamming the ESPN analyst for his wild theory on race playing a key role in Nikola Jokic’s MVP chatter, he took another shot at the former star by using Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo as a talking point.
When Barkley’s fellow analyst on TNT, Shaquille O’Neal made his case for Antetokounmpo for MVP, the former had a crisp reply: “You’re only voting for him because he’s black.”
Shaq: "Giannis is my MVP"
Chuck: "You're only voting for him because he's black" pic.twitter.com/tWdDKXm1kW
— CJ Fogler 🫡 (@cjzero) March 10, 2023
Trust Barkley to not miss a beat. And while it may have left the TNT crew in splits, Perkins’ comments on the MVP candidacy left the NBA world seething. And Barkley decided to dole out more punishment to the former Celtics’ big man.
‘First Take’ Apologizes For Kendrick Perkins’ Claim
After Perkins’ controversial take on the MVP debate, ‘First Take’ sent out an apology though it’s too soon to say if he or the show’s been forgiven.
Perkins suggested that Jokic received MVP votes from white media members because he is white himself on the show. He further added that 80% of voters are white. Recently, First Take rolled out an apology, with Molly Qerim noting that the panel “is much more diverse.”
“I want to correct something here from yesterday’s show,” Qerim said. “When Kendrick Perkins said 80% of NBA voters for the MVP award are white, the NBA publicly announces the voters each year, and after review, it is clear the panel is much more diverse than what was portrayed by Kendrick Perkins, and we wanted to make sure that we corrected that today.”
As far as the MVP rankings go, Jokic’s scintillating run makes him the frontrunner to win the trophy for the third time in a row. The Denver Nuggets are the Western Conference leaders at the time of writing with an impressive 46-20 record and the Serbian has been a driving force in their successful campaign.
And whether Perkins approves or not, the chances of Jokic walking away with his third MVP are high. It remains to be seen how the former NBA champ takes the news, but for now, he does continue to take some heat for his comments.
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