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