Former center Kendrick Perkins is one of the more prominent ESPN basketball analysts, and there is no doubt that he has the credentials for the job, as he had a long career in the NBA and notably won the championship with the Boston Celtics in 2008.
There are times, however, when Kendrick Perkins has hot takes and subsequently gets called out by fans. One of those times happened fairly recently, as Kendrick Perkins recently suggested that Nikola Jokic is getting MVP votes from white media members because he is white himself on First Take. He also noted that 80% of MVP voters are white. Recently, First Take issued an apology for his statement, with Molly Qerim noting that the panel “is much more diverse” than what was said.
“I want to correct something here from yesterday’s show,” said Qerim. “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.”
I hope Kendrick Perkins apologizes for implying that there's racial bias in NBA MVP voting based on the misinformation he claimed as "facts" yesterday. First Take correcting him publicly is a good step, but the damage done is irreversible at this point. pic.twitter.com/3gV3aGjgRg
— WADE 🏀 (@Its_Wade) March 8, 2023
There has been a lot of debate about whether Nikola Jokic should win the MVP this season, and the debate definitely got heated between Kendrick Perkins and JJ Redick when it comes to this issue. It will be interesting to see how the MVP discussion develops in the coming weeks, and there is still a chance that another player besides Nikola Jokic will win the award at the end of the season.
Kendrick Perkins Also Suggested That Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki, And Nikola Jokic Won MVP Because They’re White
It is clear from other statements that Kendrick Perkins is not a huge fan of Nikola Jokic. In fact, he previously suggested that Jokic, along with Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash, won MVPs because they are white.
“There are only three guys who won the MVP who wasn’t top 10 in scoring: Steve Nash, Jokic, and Dirk Nowitzki,” said Perkins. “Now what do those guys have in common? I’ll let it sit there and marinate, you think about it.”
This is definitely a hot take from Kendrick Perkins, and both Steve Nash and Dirk Nowitzki had solid arguments to win their MVPs. However, it seems as though Perkins believes race played a part in that happening as well.
It remains to be seen how Kendrick Perkins will respond to all the discussion that has followed his Nikola Jokic take. The analyst has not said anything official thus far, and we’ll see what happens in the future.
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