The NBA season has finally arrived at its concluding stage. The postseason is knocking on the door as the teams prepare themselves for the playoffs. While the regular season draws to a close, the NBA world has been eagerly waiting for the winner of this year’s Michael Jordan MVP trophy, among Giannis Antetokounmpo, Joel Embiid, and Nikola Jokic. However, before revealing his pick for the MVP, Charles Barkley went on an unfiltered rant to express his frustration with the massive controversy surrounding the MVP selection this year.

Most of the NBA community would agree that there hasn’t been a clear standout player this season. Despite the lack of a? clear winner, many have religiously picked their favorites for the season, leading to heated debates on social media and even on national television. As a result, certain polarizing narratives around racial lines have emerged that have upset Charles Barkley profoundly.

Charles Barkley rants about the MVP controversy

Joel Embiid leads the league in points per game as he had yet another amazing season with the Philadelphia 76ers. Giannis Antetokounmpo has been exceptional as always with his 33.1 PPG this season, leading his team to secure the best record in the NBA. Meanwhile, Nikola Jokic might not have the points per game average like his competitors, but he is averaging almost a triple-double in the current season.

Unsurprisingly, choosing the MVP has been a difficult task for the voters, including Charles Barkley and Ernie Johnson of the Inside the NBA crew. On a recent episode of The Steam Room with Barkley and Johnson, Barkley shared his pick for the MVP trophy after expressing his frustration with the controversies surrounding the voting process.

“I’mma say this here. I hate that these fools on other networks, have bought race into question and things like that,” said Barkley. He added, ” My honest opinion, I think you give it to any of the three and I would not be upset.”

Barkley was referring to the racial bias argument, that was bought on by Kendrick Perkins a few weeks ago on ESPN’s First Take. Perkins had argued that Jokic is being favored for MVP every year because he’s white, as are the majority of the MVP voters. The argument was received negatively by many, with ESPN even clarifying that the voters were much more diverse than what Perkins might have portrayed them to be.

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Barkley is not the only one who has found it difficult to choose his pick for the MVP award, as colleague Ernie Johnson also gave a detailed explanation on how he’s trying to choose his pick for the Michael Jordan trophy.

Who will be the winner of the MVP trophy?

In the same podcast, Ernie Johnson mentioned how he has created different charts to map out all the players and their performances. However, despite Johnson making a detailed analysis for himself, he has been unable to pick out a clear winner for the award. Putting all things into consideration, it might be a very close call for this season’s ultimate MVP winner.

Who’s your pick for MVP? Let us know in the comments below.

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