Former NBA legend Charles Barkley decided to take an opportunity to weigh in on the controversial claim that was made concerning the voting process for the professional basketball league’s MVP award made by former player Kendrick Perkins, who stated recently that MVP voters, who happen to mostly be sports writers and broadcasters, prefer white players. And let’s just say Barkley was not on board with the statement.
“On ESPN’s ‘First Take’ earlier this week, Perkins noted to hosts Stephen A. Smith and Molly Qerim and former player JJ Redick that the vast majority of MVP voters are white. Perkins then implied that their white skin color affects their voting habits,” TheBlaze said.
“[W]hen it comes to MVP voting, 80 percent of the voters are white American,” Perkins went on to say. “Twenty percent are others. I know that stat.”
Redick then took issue with the insinuation made by the former NBA player that white voters were racist.
“[W]hat we’ve just witnessed is the problem with this show,” Redick kicked off, “where we create narratives that do not exist in reality.”
Redick then went on to make the claim that Perkins was “implying that the white voters that vote on NBA are racist, that they favor white people,” a claim that Perkins first denied, but then said was “the facts.”
JJ Redick condemns First Take and pushes back on Kendrick Perkins alleging NBA MVP voters have a racial bias against Black players: pic.twitter.com/7pOMmGW4AH
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 7, 2023
“Charles Barkley, who won the NBA MVP award in 1993, shared his thoughts about the topic during a phone appearance on Denver’s 92.5 FM Altitude Sports Radio with Vic Lombardi, Marc Moser, and Brett Kane. Never one to mince words, Barkley took Perkins to task, calling his comments “[a]sinine, silly, stupid. Pick one of the words, whatever one you want,” TheBlaze reported.
Barkley then went on to say, “[W]hen 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.”
The NBA legend then said that Perkins was suffering from what he called “ESPN disease,” which he said encourages analysts to make some sort of ridiculous claim so they can appear to be “provocative.” Barkley then said that he was happy to see Redick push back against the comments.
“The Round Mound of Rebound then explained that the MVP award is given to the player with the best regular season, not the best overall player in the league. Nikola Jokic, the Serbian phenom largely expected to win the league MVP award again this year, currently averages a triple-double, and his team, the Denver Nuggets, sit comfortably atop the Western Conference,” the report said.
“To slander this man (Jokic) in this situation is just total B.S.,” Barkley stated. Jokic also won the award the last two seasons.
Here’s more from TheBlaze:
There is some indication that Perkins might actually agree with Barkley. After his heated exchange with Redick, Perkins stated that he “appreciated” Redick for his “real talk.”
“I appreciate you, brother,” Perkins said to Redick. “I’m good, long as you good.”
Redick then replied, “We’re always good.”
Qerim then closed out the segment by saying she wished the four of them could get together in person for a big group hug.
Isn’t that just syrupy sweet?
