Despite Shaquille O’Neal’s Debate, Charles Barkley Continues Relentless Pitch for 27YO Knicks Star

Ernie Johnson from Inside the NBA is the only one who has a vote for the regular season awards in the TNT crew. Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith, and Charles Barkley have not received that honor yet, but that will not stop them from choosing a name for the accolades. Barkley especially, has some of the most unique takes for the awards, and one such is his case for the Most Valuable Player. The Sixers legend is rooting for someone who is not even a final candidate for the MVP. Even after getting humiliated by Shaq on live TV for this, the Sixers legend is not willing to give up. 

It’s safe to say that it is very likely for Nikola Jokic to win his third MVP, but Kenny Smith and Shaq are rooting for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to win it. That makes sense as the OKC Thunder superstar is second in the MVP race as per NBA.com. However, Barkley is rooting for New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson to win it.

Barkley shared, “You are talking about young stars, OKC got a lot of them.” Smith agreed and added, “The star of stars is SGA. That guy controls the game in five different categories. Ladies and gentlemen, sit back and enjoy SGA.” Barkley chimed in, “There’s going to be a new guy named Jalen [Brunson]. Y’all going to introduce yourself to them.” 

Barkley and Shaq had this conversation before in the same episode. The Sixers legend asked Shaq to show some love for Brunson to win the MVP. But O’Neal replied, “We ain’t talking about love, we talking about the MVP. We talking about no consideration,”  ignoring Barkley’s take. Shaq is not willing to listen to Barkley’s take, but 76ers head coach Nick Nurse might be all ears. 

Despite Brunson being a playoff opponent, Nick Nurse makes a bold MVP claim on the Knicks star 

The Philadelphia 76ers and the New York Knicks are battling in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs this season. Before Brunson and the Knicks took Game 1 at Madison Square Garden, 76ers coach Nick Nurse admitted that Brunson was quite unstoppable.

He shared with the media, “First of all, he’s unbelievable obviously. Much deserved MVP candidate this year really…We’ve gotta put some different matchups on him to try to change things up. Gotta throw some different schemes at him.”

Nurse added, “I think that’s the most important thing that you can work hard and play perfect defense, and he’s still gonna throw one in,”  and that is exactly what Brunson did. He finished the game with 22 points, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists, which is not his best, but it was good enough to get the best of Joel Embiid and Co. At least, Charles Barkley can be happy that he and Nurse are on the same page.