Stephen A Smith and Kendrick Perkins Credit: ESPN
By Reice Shipley on

In Friday night’s overtime win over the Phoenix Suns, Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokić had one of the best games of any player this season, strengthening his case to repeat as the league’s MVP potentially.

However, when Kendrick Perkins started to talk about Jokić’s case to win the award potentially, he was quickly and abruptly interrupted by his NBA Countdown co-host, Stephen A. Smith.

Jokić surpassed your average triple-double in Friday’s game, putting up 31 points, 21 rebounds, and 22 assists in a 149-141 victory over the Suns. It was a reminder that, at least on the offensive side of the ball, Jokić is perhaps the most well-rounded player in the league today.

Naturally, Jokić’s performance was discussed on Sunday’s edition of NBA Countdown ahead of the matchup between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Denver Nuggets. Perkins made it clear just how impressed he is with Jokić overall.

“I already believe he is the most skilled center to play the game of basketball,” said Perkins.

As Perkins was about to continue, Stephen A. Smith cut him off, telling him that he wouldn’t entertain an argument where Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s MVP case “gets compromised” by Jokić’s impressive performance.

“You are not doing that today, Big Perk,” said Smith. “I’m gonna tell you right now. We’re not going to do this today. Jokić is big time. The top-five argument, I’m not disagreeing with it. I get all of that. But we aren’t doing that today. We aren’t gonna start this narrative where all of the sudden, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander gets compromised for league MVP again like he did last year. Since February 1st, America, don’t look at Perk, look at me… Since February 1st, the Oklahoma City Thunder are an NBA best 15-2.

“I’m looking at Shai Gilgeous-Alexander right now. Leads the NBA with 32.8 points per game. In the calendar year, 50-point games, four of them since 2025 hit. Oh, by the way, averaging 34 on 51 percent shooting, 43 percent from three-point range. We ain’t gonna do this. Oklahoma City is the number one seed. Everybody looking up, way up, you have to climb a ladder. We’re not doing this to SGA this year. SGA is going to be the league MVP if he keeps this up. I don’t care what Jokić does.”

Stephen A. clearly believes that SGA has all but wrapped up the MVP award with over a month left in the regular season, barring something drastic happening. His argument that Gilgeous-Alexander holds the clear edge over Jokić was perhaps only strengthened in Sunday’s Thunder-Nuggets matchup. Not only did the Thunder cruise to an easy win in the game, but Gilgeous-Alexander finished with a game-high 40 points.

About Reice Shipley

Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.

View all posts by Reice Shipley