“Remember when Michael Jordan congratulated Charles Barkley and Karl Malone?”: Richard Jefferson roasts Nuggets fan claiming LeBron James and Stephen Curry are classless for not congratulating Jokic for his MVP

Richard Jefferson pointed out double standards in how Michael Jordan and LeBron James are differently treated on a Twitter thread.

Nikola Jokic was awarded the 2021 NBA MVP 2 days ago by commissioner Adam Silver. It was the culmination of a historic regular season campaign in which the Joker set a ton of records. One of those records is that for assists per game through an NBA season for a center.

The Joker won the trophy in a landslide partly because practically all of his competitors went down with injury. Curry, who’s the only real MVP candidate other than Jokic not to miss time, missed the playoffs with Golden State.

Also Read: “Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton had nearly 80% of Milwaukee’s points”: Bucks superstars make NBA Playoff history in Game 3 against Kevin Durant and co.

Richard Jefferson uses the example of Michael Jordan in a Twitter thread

There are some people who’ll always be ready to take offense to practically anything that happens in the world. And so was the case with this Nuggets fan, who’s grasping for straws in this tweet.

LeBron, Chris Paul, Steph Curry are all supposed to be ambassadors for the game of basketball but none could tell Nikola Jokic congratulations. It’s lame how little due Jokic gets.

— Billy Sandoval (@BillySandoval9) June 9, 2021

Jefferson did not hold back in the way that he replied to this tweet. He ensured that the right idea about these comparisons was put out there. To do so, Jefferson quoted the example of the animosity between Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan:

“I remember that time MJ congratulated Barkley and Malone. Or as we’ve seen so famously DID HE TAKE IT PERSONAL. Your expectations of them is not their business.”

I remember that time MJ congratulated Barkley and Malone. 🙄 Or as we’ve seen so famously DID HE TAKE IT PERSONAL. Your expectations of them is not their business.

— Richard Jefferson (@Rjeff24) June 10, 2021

Also Read: “Bruce Brown, how do you not pass back to Kyrie Irving or Kevin Durant?!”: Stephen A Smith and NBA Twitter react to the final seconds of the Nets-Bucks Game

We’ve all seen how Jordan exacted revenge on Clyde Drexler, Charles Barkley and Karl Malone in the NBA Finals. The man could not bear some comparisons between himself and his own peers and rivals.

But people are still holding LeBron James and Stephen Curry to the type of gold standards that nobody ever held the other GOATs of basketball. It makes no sense to try and stir up controversy over non-issues like who wished whom for an award.

About the author

Amulya Shekhar

Amulya Shekhar is a sports junkie who thrives on the thrills and frills of live sports action across basketball, football (the American variant works too), parkour, adventure sports. He believes sports connect us to our best selves, and he hopes to help people experience sports more holistically.

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