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Kendrick Perkins is dealing with a controversy over his suggestion NBA MVP voters have a bias toward reigning MVP Nikola Jokić.
More recently, Perkins’ comments have sparked a Twitter feud with former NBA coach George Karl.
Perkins doubled down on his comments Tuesday by posting a tweet, saying, “A Speaker of TRUTH has no friends!!!”
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ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins reports on the 2022 NBA Draft Combine May 18, 2022, at Wintrust Arena in Chicago. (Jeff Haynes/NBAE via Getty Images)
The 2013 NBA Coach of the Year decided to respond to Perkins statement.
“Untrue @KendrickPerkins cause honest educated people respect Truth,” Karl wrote. “Also don’t forget that Truth is about facts not casual opinions.”
Perkins did not take kindly to Karl’s comment and quickly questioned why Karl, “of all people,” would dare respond to him.
CHARLES BARKLEY RIPS KENDRICK PERKINS FOR SUGGESTING RACIAL BIAS PLAYS ROLE IN MVP VOTING
Perkins, a former Boston Celtics center and 2008 NBA champion also hinted Karl had “skeletons” in his closet.
“@CoachKarl22 do you of all people want to go there today? Because I definitely have time homeboy. YOU most definitely have a few Skeletons in your damn closet,” Perkins wrote.
Karl, who has made headlines making inflammatory comments about NBA players, responded with, “Go where @KendrickPerkins? I was talking truth when u were in diapers. Coach Dean Smith introduced me to it and I’ve lived it since.”
Karl, who spent 27 seasons as a head coach in the NBA, added that he believed Jokić was named league MVP two consecutive times because of his level on play on the court.
Kendrick Perkins of the Canton Charge sits on the bench during an NBA G-League game against the Northern Arizona Suns Jan. 12, 2018, at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga, Ontario Canada. (AJ Messier/NBAE via Getty Images)
“The truth here is the MVP voters aren’t racist, Jokic is gonna win it again cause he deserves it and u still owe me dinner from the Bubble,” Karl wrote.
Jokić is once again a leading candidate in this year’s MVP race. If the Denver Nuggets star wins, it will be his third straight MVP award.
Since the MVP award debuted in the 1955-56 season, only three players have achieved the MVP three-peat.
Eleven-time NBA champion Bill Russell won the award from 1960-63, Wilt Chamberlain earned MVP honors from 1965-68 and Celtics all-time great Larry Bird was named MVP three straight times from 1983-86.
On Tuesday’s episode of ESPN’s “First Take,” JJ Redick criticized the format of the show and pushed back on Perkins’ comments.
Kendrick Perkins attends the Ruffles NBA All-Star Celebrity Game during 2022 NBA All-Star Weekend at Wolstein Center Feb. 18, 2022 in Cleveland. (Arturo Holmes/Getty Images)
“Stephen A. (Smith), I mean no offense to you. And I mean no offense to ‘First Take’ because I think this show is extremely valuable,” Redick said. “It is an honor to be on this desk every day. It really is. But what we just witnessed is the problem with this show. Where we create narratives that do not exist in reality. The implication that you are implying — that the White voters that vote on NBA (awards) are racist, that they favor White people. You just said that.
“That’s exactly what you implied Kendrick Perkins.”
“I did not!” Perkins responded, adding, “I stated the facts!”
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On Wednesday, ESPN issued a correction in reference to Perkins’ remarks.
“I want to correct something here from yesterday’s show,” “First Take” co-host Molly 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 we corrected that today.”
