Former NBA Players In Verbal Scrap On ESPN's First Take

Things got seriously heated on ESPN's First Take Tuesday morning when JJ Redick called out Kendrick Perkins for suggesting that NBA MVP voters are racist against black players because Nikola Jokic is leading the MVP race once again this season:

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

“What we just witnessed is the problem with this show. Where we create narratives that do not exist in reality," began Redick, who played 15 years in the NBA and retired after the 2020-21 season.

"What you are implying," he continued, talking to Perkins, "is that the white voters that vote on NBA are racist. That they favor white people." Perkins at this point lost his cool, interjecting and shouting, repeatedly, "I did not, I did not, I did not...." continuing to cut off Redick mid-sentence. Perk punctuated it finally by screaming "I said it's a fact! It's a fact! It's a fact!"

Kendrick Perkins is getting absolutely embarrassed by JJ Reddick about NBA MVP criteria. I continue to say Perkins is one of the worst analysts at ESPN

— I Got Canceled By The Culture🍷🇨🇲 (@Ndinsanity) March 7, 2023

Perkins has made comments like this in recent days: “When it comes down to guys winning MVP since 1990, it’s only three guys that won the MVP that wasn’t top 10 in scoring…Steve Nash, Jokic and Dirk Nowitzki. What do those guys have in common?”

He doubled-down on that narrative on this morning's show, pointed out that 80% of the voters are white.

Some pretty heated conversation to come on this in the days ahead.