Kendrick Perkins' Anti-Jokic Crusade Undermines ESPN's Entire NBA Playoff Coverage

For a network that will soon pay $2.6 billion a year for rights to the NBA, one would think ESPN wouldn't let one emotionally-triggered commentator undermine its entire coverage of the league. Yet that's exactly what ESPN is doing by continuing to use Kendrick Perkins as its lead NBA analyst.

Imagine if Kirk Herbstreit had a vendetta against a top black college athlete and let his personal feelings influence his analysis of that player. Or if Terry Bradshaw were so bothered by the success of a black quarterback that he argued with strawmen online just to discredit Lamar Jackson. Those hypotheticals are akin to how Perkins covers Nikola Jokic, the consensus best player in the NBA.

Perkins' issues with Jokic are well-documented. In short, he got it in his head a few years ago that Jokic is only good for a white player, and his success and MVPs are the result of an anti-black bias within the NBA media.

Perkins has had an NBA MVP vote for four seasons, during which Jokic has won three MVPs. However, he has never once cast a top-three ballot for Jokic.

Imagine that.

His declaration about Jokic and white privilege is so absurd that even the most poorly researched analyst could swiftly debunk it. But the facts haven't stopped Perkins from continuing his crusade against the NBA's top player.

Tuesday night, Perkins appeared postgame on ESPN and blamed Jokic for the Nuggets' Game 5 loss to the Thunder. He considered his argument so strong that he then posted on social media.

"Bron gets tired at 40 years old and people question his greatness… but Jokic gets tired and its he needs more help. We gotta stop moving goal post."

Dammnit, stop moving goal post.

Perkins is angered by the idea that Jokic's teammates let him down. Here are