JJ Redick has continued to go viral for his television appearances on ESPN show “First Take.” He has went at it with the host of the show Stephen A. Smith and recurring guest Chris ‘Mad Dog’ Russo.
Redick has also stirred up responses from NBA legends such as Dominique Wilkins and Michael Cooper. Now, him and Kendrick Perkins went back-and-forth on Tuesday about a statement that Perkins made about the voting bias in the NBA voting process.
The Heated Exchange
Last week, Perkins stated that Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash, and Nikola Jokic are the only players since 1990 to won the NBA MVP without finishing top 10 in scoring.
“What do those guys have in common? I’ll let it sit there and marinate. You think about it,” Perkins said last week on “First Take.” “So that’s my whole thing. Why do we move the goal posts for certain people, but for others we don’t?”
Perkins insinuated that the three white players won MVP and didn’t finish top 10 in scoring only because they were white.
Redick responded yesterday by saying Magic Johnson was a three-time league MVP in the 1980s and never finished top 10 in scoring for the three seasons he won.
Then, Redick took it up a notch.
“Stephen A. [Smith], I mean no offense to you. I mean no offense to ‘First Take.’ Because I think this show is extremely valuable. It is an honor to be on this desk every day. It really is, but what we’ve just witnessed is the problem with this show,” Redick said. “Where we create narratives that do not exist in reality. The implication of what you are implying is that the white voters that vote on NBA are racist. They favor white people.”
Perkins shook his hand and then start to shout back, “I did not call them racists. I stated the facts. I stated the facts!”
Smith interjected in the heated exchange and the show went to break.
Twitter Favors Perkins
Redick and Perkins heated exchange sparked a number of responses on Twitter. Podcast host Ashley Nicole Moss weighed in on the debate and explained that Redick has turned a blind eye to things going on in America while defending Jokic.
“Racial biases exist in almost everything and to pretend that they don’t is a falsity. with that said — Nikola Jokić being on the verge of being a 3x MVP doesn’t have anything to do with him being white and everything thing to do with that he’s immensely deserving,” said Moss.
She continued, “the criteria for this award sucks and it has come across as a popularity contest (which results in conversations like this). while Jokic should be in the running this year, if there was a legitimate criteria to the award — he wouldn’t have won it last yr as the ‘MVP’ on a #6 Seed.”
Jokic has been the best regular season player in the league for the past three years and has deserved the MVP honors. Jokic is player that doesn’t lead the league in rebounding, scoring, or assists. His complete game and the impact he has on his team is what makes him the MVP. He is a big man that averages a triple-double and has help lead his team to the best record in Western Conference this season.
