RJ & Perk enter FIERCE DEBATE over Nikola Jokic, stat padding, MVP & more! | NBA Today 

Jokic has had more than 30 games where he has come up one point, rebound or assist from a triple double. It happens so often there is a term for it. It’s called the sombor double. If he actually stat padded he would have thirty more triple doubles. Stat padding is someone jacking up 30 shots to get 30 points but Perk has no problem with that 🙄. This is an insulting take by Perkins that has no basis in reality.

The fact that Perkins has a mvp vote is actually disgusting

There’s honestly no debate. Jokic is MVP and that’s it.

It's official. Perkins is trying to change the narrative of Jokic in sports media so he won't get MVP.

Perk: “says Jokic shouldn’t be MVP cause he statpads” Also perk: and I’m not knocking Jokic for statpadding

Funniest thing is that Jokic deserves the MVP award this year more then he did last year.

Even if the Nuggets are stat padding, they're 24-0 everytime he gets a triple-double. How dare they come up with a plan that works 100% of the time 😅

Perk has to be the most delusional analyst, last year he said Ja Morant was MVP most of the year, now he's calling Jokic a stat padder for averaging a triple double... BUT he praises Westbrick for averaging a triple double 4 times..

Perkins is one of the worse analysts on television…this faulty “Stat padding” argument he is making is making him look like a Clown 🤡 😂

People like Perkins show that just because you played doesn’t mean you know ball. We gotta stop giving him a platform

Did he just compare the 80's Celtics team with a team that had Campazzo and Austin Rivers in the backcourt?!? 🤨

Perk acting like Embiid doesn't stay in games until he gets 30 points

Perkins stat-padding for that triple single

The Nuggets are 82-18 when Jokic records a triple double. They're 24-0 this season when Jokic gets his trip-dub. That by defintion is not a function of stat padding. Jokic is the focal point and is the beating heart of the Nuggets. He's earned two MVP's and will deserve it if he wins a third.

Jokic does not ask for the MVP, he is awarded it. Another player last year and this ( Figure it out) campaigned endlessly for the MVP enlisting his friends and trainers. No other player ( just look at both teams at the end of a game) ends a game bleeding, looking like he was in a knife fight. Jokic is the regular season MVP this season and deserves it.

Perk digging the hole deeper and deeper.. 😂😂😂

Jokic gets a triple double as a consequence of his style of play and how good his teams offense is. The shooting percentages literally prove it lol he’s shooting 63% from the field and he’s not jacking up shots either lol calling it statpadding is backhanded.

20..20 is the number of times this season Jokic has been a couple of assists/rebounds/points shy of a triple double. Stat padders don't miss by one or two.

You know by Jefferson’s reaction how he and all REAL basketball fans feel about Perk

The narrative on Jokic is gonna change so fast if they win the title this year, hopefully then people will give him his respect.

Bird had couple of hall of famers next to him while making those post season runs during his MVP years. Jokic is still to play with another ALL STAR! Nobody here thought of mentioning that?

"Stat padding" is a term that's used in the context of a player going for personal numbers regardless of whether or not those numbers help the team. Like when Bron was chasing the scoring title last season despite the fact that the Lakers were losing games. I didn't hear Perkins bring up 'stat padding' then.

How about to give Bird this Nuggets roster and give Jokic that Celtics roster full of HOFs and look it from that perspective? What would Bird do in a post season with Facundo Camazzo and Austin Rivers as his backcourt? This is not 1v1 game, it's 5v5...

Came back after the stat padder won an NBA Championship

Jokic: “It’s cool when they do it, it’s a problem when I do it”

perkins is an embarassment to the entire sports industry and game of basketball this is ridiculous

Kendrick Perkins has become the new Ryan Hollins of NBA "analysis."

Perkins pretending Jokic didn't average 31 15 and 6 in the playoffs last year when his second best player was Will Barton

Perk "No dont stop, keep going, dont stop" Malika "Can you stop saying that?" Her mind was definitely in the gutter 💀😂💀

One thing that is being missed here. Even if he is padding his stats...a player who pads his assists totals is...the best teammate you can have.

Jokic is everything that Perk wishes he could be. Jealousy is bad big Perk. Give the man his flowers. The league ain’t the same as when Bird was playing. Every teams are just way more talented than teams from the past, but still gotta appreciate the pioneers of the game.

Stat padding is different from empty stats. What Russ was doing with OKC, a lot of those triple dubs were empty stats because they weren't winning. Jokic's stats are directly translating to wins.

I mean they can just be honest like SAS and say its because he's not a "brutha!"

Jokic is an MVP

What Perk doesn't understand is that this is the way Joker play. This is Joker style of play. He is an all around type player. You can't tell an all around type player that he is stat padding when it is his game to do everything.

It's not just the triple doubles. Just watching the Nuggets play It's easy to see how he makes his teammates better and how much they struggle when he's off the court. No analytics needed It's just easy to see.

Malika with 'Can you stop saying that'. That was hilarious!

Hey Perk: Jokic got a ring and Finals MVP. He has more credentials than you now, bud.

This aged well for Perkins... Lol. Denver Champions 🏆 2023! Jokic MVP!!

LeBron joined a super team to win a title, that's just what it takes. Nuggets been dealing with injuries for 2 seasons, NO mvp candidate could we a title with there previous rosters.

If perkins can have these takes and have a media platform anyone can do anything, get on your grind I guess y’all!

Man if Nuggets manage to stay healthy and win it all I will become insufferable.

That Rick Carlisle joke was straight gas 😂🔥

Malika told perk to “stop saying that” 😂😂😂😂

Perk moved this argument from stapadding, to race now to he has to win a title

There's wanting to round off your stats for the night (sure, that exists),, but it is another thing when you're wanting to get a great stat irrespective of whether the effort it's serving to get the win. That's why you can't call what Jokic does stat padding. Every effort is purposeful. That's just his style.

If RJ was saying " dont stop keep going", Malika wouldnt have said stop that lol😂

Seen games where denver staff put jokic in games too juice up his stats while up 20 Perk gotta expose this defensive liability

Jokic:NBA Champion and NBA Finals “Don’t bet against the Fat Boy” to Mailka Andrews after NBA Finals

It’s only Jokic 7th year in the league Lebron won in his 9th KD won in his 10th Dirk won in his 13th A lot of players took a long time before they won a ring Jokic on a team with no all stars besides him last person that did that was Dirk and it was over 10 years ago Jokic going to win this year so it’s all good 💯

Bro, Jokic has 16 games ended with 9 assists this season. And 19 games with 9 rebounds. Also, 9 games ended with 9 assist and 9 rebound. He could easily stat pad and get 40 triple double.

I love that Perk’s defense is that Jokic pads stats because I did.

I think Perk is taking out his frustrations come from Rondo

Jokic is winning more games every season like Bird: 47, 48 and about 57 this season.

This is why I stopped watching ESPN. The fact that they are taking Perkin's argument seriously is beyond me. The guys whose team is in first place, who is averaging the most efficient triple double in the history of the NBA (63/40/80) AND is a Center is stat padding?! Give me a break.

guys stat padding = winning basket.... he just doesn't want to say jokic plays the most winning basketball in the league no one will say it tho FR

Russell Westbrook used to get mad when his teammates didnt shoot when he passed because it messed up his assists. Russell Westbrook as a POINT GUARD used to contest the least amount of threes in the nba(less than other centers) because he'd be in the paint hunting rebounds rather than defend guards shooting 3s. I remember steph and kd literally pointing and laughing on the bench at russgetting upset with teammates not shooting when he passed them the ball. We all saw this. Jokic doesn't care about triple doubles. He's the last guy in the world you'd think would care about this stuff. Stop bringing up russ. Its just fake news.

Seriously? Anyone who has seen Jokic play in at least 10 games, you'd think he's not even doing much of anything on the court. He's so in-sync and so efficient at every game he plays in that you would probably think he only got like 10, 3, and 3, and then you'd be surprised that he got 30, 10, and 10 at the end. Like that 41 points in Game 2 in the 2023 NBA Finals vs Heat, probably the most subtle 41 points I have ever seen. I barely even noticed that he scored that much throughout the game.

Jokic earned it more this year than last year especially since they’re been 82-18 the last two seasons Jokic has had a triple double. Plus they’re 24-0 this season when Jokic has a triple double.

Giannis is the mvp, best player and best team record. Jokic is having the best season stats wise

You could just feel Richards pain when they said they were going to Perk, me to Rich

Here’s the thing. Everyone every game passes the ball a ton. Every pass does not result in an assist. The reason jokic gets high assists is because he gets his teammates good looks from the perimeter or cutting towards the rim. DHO is part of this too but a majority of his assists are not dhos

Jokic 1st MVP was because a lot of his competition was not healthy. Second MVP, his team was not available so he had to carry the team. This year, everyone is healthy, his team and competition. They are the 1st in the west by a wide margin, his numbers are great, traditionally and advanced analytics, also no second all star player. I'd say the closest competition is actually Giannis, but he misses a lot of games this year. Embiid might win it if he can have a 15-0 run like giannis, it is highly unlikely though.

Bottom line is this: If Jokic was BLACK Perkins wouldn't be having this conversation! Truth! Full stop!🔥💥🔥

Whos here after Jokic Stat Padded his way to the championship

More assists in a finals debut than anyone in the history of the NBA. And also the only player in history to lead a finals in total points total assists and total rebounds. How's that for stat padding Perkins???

i am cool with the postseason awards being separate from the season awards. there is a Finals MVP for a reason, and as far as I can tell only the players remember who was MVP. i would be cool to have a Player's Association "best player" or "player of the year" award that encompassed season and postseason, and/or distinguished "best" from "most valuable"

RJ's "whatever" at the end got me 😂

Perks a hater, been a hater, always will be a hater!

Why do people still argue for postseason success when the award is regular season based?

Don't stop RJ, Malika get your mind out the gutter girl 🤣

63.3% shooting

Stat padding insinuates a player has an individual side quest that deviates from the main team goal of winning the basketball game. When Russ was getting his, that felt like stat padding. Like whether his team won or lost, as long as he got his triple-double he was “having fun”. Jokic is totally different - he seems like he literally couldn’t be bothered by what his stat line is. His triple-doubles feel like they happen as a byproduct of doing what it takes to win his team the game, not the other way around. Intention has a lot to do with it and you can never get in a player’s head and be sure, but the optics certainly don’t give any indication that he cares at all about his stats or earning individual awards. He’s like the modern Tim Duncan.

Perk: Stat padding exists in the league but I’m just gonna call out Jokic on it.

Perk is right. There was a lot of pressure on all those guys to win championships after they won MVP. Except when that pressure built up, their franchises either gave them all star teammates, or they left that team to join another team with other stars. Jordan, LeBron, KD, Steph, Giannis all needed all star teammates to win championships, none of them won without one. Jokic has never had that. Hold him to that standard.

Stat padding is when u make plays for personal gains that lead to losses. It’s not the fact that they’re 28-0 when he gets triple doubles it’s that we consistently see Jokic never fight the game. He just makes the right plays

Jokic was given the MVP last year because he willed a G league Nugs team to the playoffs with monster stats, historically efficient scoring, and a game that made everyone around him better. People were lamenting the fact that he didn’t have help, and that if he did, the Nuggets would be great. He got his help back, and guess what… the Nugs are great! If the Nugs were not great this year, then the MVP won last year would’ve been “fraudulent.” The claim that Jokic doesn’t deserve the MVP again is ludicrous. He is doing exactly what has been expected of him. Now if he doesn’t get to the finals and make it competitive this year, then the argument for no MVP next year is the compelling one (obv regardless, no one will win 4 in a row - but I’m just giving the logic). Bird had Parish and McHale during that 3 year stretch in the playoffs. Jokic missed his next two best players last year, and missed his next best player the year before (when AG and MPJ also weren’t the players the are now) - so his team performed as was expected (as did Bird’s)

“Stop being good and winning games!!!!”

Perk is goofy😂😂😂

Jokic benefits a lot from the age of analytics. His stats simply looked better last year and they look great this year. As analytics continue to grow in the NBA, I think more decision like DPOY, MVP, ROY... and so on will be more analytics based. The eye test will be slowly phased out.

Perk is basically saying since he admits that he was aware and wanted to stat pad himself, that it must be that way for everyone else😂

Points at the detriment of wins and shooting percentage is stat padding. The following is not stat padding: assists, blocks, rebounds, minutes, signing autographs, smiles, shaking hands, getting overlooked for endorsements based on being demographically challenged.

Call him champion along with stat padder now

Kendrick Perkins stat padding these bad takes.

Big Difference between Jokic & Westbrook, OKC as a team push to stat pad Westbrook, give me a instance that Denver front court box out during a freethrow so Jokic can get a rebound, or feed his teammates until he get his 10th assist then he suddenly became a ballhog.

for me statpadding is when for example you lead by 25-30 entering 4th and a player plays excessive minutes dispute not needing it, might be wrong but i dont recall jokic almost ever doing that?

6:07 boy was he wrong

Jokic isn't held to the same standards because the media UNDERRATES him. It wasn't too long ago Malika asked if Jokic is a superstar

the difference is jokic isn't holding the ball late into the clock and then passing for assists and he isn't stealing boards and oh yea, his team is actually winning

The fact that they would put Westbrook and Jokic together in the same argument for stat padding just shows the level of SELECTIVE IGNORANCE these "analysts" are capable of. Unlike Russ, Jokic plays within the system and the flow of the game. He doesn't force the issue to get his stats. And anybody who is a student of the game and not be a nuggets fan can appreciate how organic Jokic plays. As for none finals appearance, Curry has never won Championship without Klay and KD, Giannis had Middleton, they had their #2 (and #3) and Curry played #2 to KD in Golden State. If both Porter and Murray shows up healthy together in the playoffs, it would be the first time Jokic will have his main auxiliary guys in the playoffs run.

ESPN is going to ride this horse

I swear 90% of the nba community and basketball community hate giannis. Whether it be by fans, players, media. He is supposed to be 1 or at least 2 in mvp convo but he won't win it because he is too good and other nba fans can't accept that giannis is way better than their favorite player.

I love Kendrick Perkins *says nobody ever*

MVP is an individual performance and how a player affects the team compared to other players. Championship is team performance compared to other teams in the leauge.

How many all stars does Jokic have playing with him??? Now answer the same question about everyone else!

I think what Perk misses is that the nuggets had Murray and MPJ coming back from injury, and KCP was new to the team. Joker needs to pass so those guys can shoot and gain confidence. And you can see it’s been paying off. Especially with MPJ. There is a bigger picture in mind. Though, as a nuggets fan, I will admit that if the nuggets enter the playoffs as a healthy #1 seed I will accept nothing less than a trip to finals this near. They will have 0 excuses this time.

If thats the case trying to make the allstar team/ avg 10 rebs as a big man/ avg 20+ in a game is statpadding

When context must be given not emotion but every player deserves it but what the 1 criteria other than popularity

Everyone knows Perk is speaking facts. They keep moving the goal 🥅 for Jokic. I'm gonna say whatever Jokic does is the criteria. If I'm not mistaken, Curry didn't win two years ago only because of his team's record while Jokic won it with a 6th seed team.

if denver dont make the finals and jokic is mvp, hes gonna get killed next year, especially if giannis or embiid or even tatum win it, cause ngl 3x back to back mvp and zero finals appearances is funky especially cause these voters used that reason not to give mvp's to other all time greats. Thats being said he deserves it this year, its the other two years where i take exception