JJ Redick goes after Kendrick Perkins, insinuating NBA MVP voters’ racial bias against blacks
“First Take” got animated Tuesday between Kendrick Perkins and JJ Redick after Redick went questioned whether Perkins insinuated NBA MVP voters have bias against black players when it comes to MVP voting in the NBA.
The two discussing the idea of Nikola Jokic’s third consecutive MVP trophy, and, in addition, the topic of stat padding become a central focus.
However, things got heated when Redick cited Perkins’ claims last week about the voting process.
Perkins’ argument the past couple of weeks has been only three players outside the top 10 of season scoring leaders have ever won the MVP since the 1990s: Steve Nash, Nikola Jokic, and Dirk Nowitzki.
“When it comes down to guys winning MVPs since 1990, it’s only three guys that won the MVP that wasn’t top-10 in scoring,” Perkins said last week. “Do you know who those three guys were? Steve Nash, Jokic and Dirk Nowitzki. Now, what do those guys have in common? I’ll let it sit there and marinate. You think about it.”
Redick countered Tuesday with Magic Johnson, who won a couple of MVP awards in 1987 and 1989. He insinuated Perkins conveniently stopped at 1990 as to not include Johnson.
What appeared to grab Redick’s attention was when Perkins added, “when it comes to MVP voting, when it comes to MVP voting, 80 percent of the voters are white American. Twenty percent are others. I know that stat.”
Redick replied: “What we’ve just witnessed is the problem with this show where we create narratives that do not exist in reality. The implication, what you are implying, that the white voters that vote on NBA are racist. That they favor white people. You just said that. Yes, you did! Yes, you did … That’s exactly what you implied, Kendrick Perkins.”
“I stated the facts! I stated the facts,” Perkins snapped back.
Mark Heim is a sports reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim.