Kendrick Perkins' MVP Case For Domantas Sabonis Pronounced Dead in Less Than 12 Hours

Kendrick Perkins has again waded into the MVP debate take pool. A season after Perkins faced criticism for saying Nikola Jokic was again the MVP front-runner because he was white - a take so bad that they literally apologized for it on First Take the next day - he went on NBA Today and attempted to make a case for Domantas Sabonis as MVP.

Now, to be fair, Sabonis is having a very good season, but even suggesting he should be part of the discuss flies in the face of the criteria under which Perkins says he votes for MVP, which is the best player with the best record. And you don't need to go far to find this quote. He literally says it seconds before he brings up Sabonis. No, really, his Sabonis argument actually comes from a longer segment that ESPN titled, "Kendrick Perkins makes a case for Jayson Tatum as MVP."

Here are the on-screen reactions of the other people on set yesterday when he said this: Zach Lowe, Malika Andrews, and Chiney Ogwumike.

As you can see in the clip, he barely finished saying Sabonis' name before he had to asked the other panelists to hold on and let him finish. Perk's eventual argument? Sabonis has great numbers (he does) and leads the league in triple-doubles (no lies detected). Unfortunately, the Kings are currently the 8-seed in the Western Conference so why would you even bring him up?

The good news for everyone is that this opinion immediately drowned in Hot Take Lake when Sabonis and the Kings went out and lost a game by 21 to the Denver Nuggets a few hours later. Sabonis quickly withdrew his name from MVP consideration by scoring just 13 points on 14 shots in the loss. Sure, Jokic only scored 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting, but he also out-rebounded (14 to 10), out-assisted (11 to 7), out-steal-ed (3 to 1), and out-blocked (1-0) Sabonis in the game.

Let this be the last time anyone suggests that the Domantas Sabonis be considered a part of the MVP discussion this season. Carry on.