NBA Analyst Gets Honest About Racial Nikola Jokic Debate

ESPN analysts JJ Redick and Kendrick Perkins had a very heated moment during a segment of First Take last season, when Redick believed Perkins was implying that MVP voters had a racial bias that was benefitting Nikola Jokic:

“What we just witnessed is the problem with this show. Where we create narratives that do not exist in reality.”

JJ Redick went in on Kendrick Perkins and First Take for insinuating NBA MVP voters have racial bias against black players 😳pic.twitter.com/Zvu6e6l2fA
— Complex Sports (@ComplexSports) March 7, 2023

Stephen A. Smith was of course on the show when this occurred, and recently admitted on an episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast that the debate went too far. When asked about the possibility of debates on the show going too far, Smith said, "First of all, it can too far. Secondly, in that particular show, it did go too far. I thought both of them were wrong to a degree, in terms of how far it went."

On the heated nature of that particular debate, Smith said, "What I didn't know was the fury, at least it appeared to be fury to me, that JJ Redick was feeling over the subject. When he came on, on one hand, I understood how or why he felt the way he felt because of what Perk had said. On the other hand, I was saying to JJ, 'This is your colleague on the show. If you feel that way, did you have to come at him like that?' Because it did get uncomfortable."

Smith reminded listeners that he had already pushed back against Perkins' implication days prior, so this wasn't an entirely new discussion, but it of course became much more heated during that episode than people were used to seeing.

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