The NBA’s Dirty Racial Secret: How Race and Politics Hijacked the MVP

The NBA, which has suffered from image issues due to increasing politicization and its embrace of radical progressive causes, now appears to be turning into something there's no other way to describe than racist.

Nikola Jokić, a player with a monstrous stat line reminiscent of Wilt Chamberlain’s prime, is about to lose his MVP title to Oklahoma City's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander—a great player in his own right, but certainly not someone whose numbers compare to Jokić’s. Jokić is putting up a historic season that will go down as one of the greatest ever, even compared to LeBron’s peak MVP year or Jordan’s best season.

He is the first player in history to be ranked top 3 in Steals, Assists, Points, and Rebounds.

Yup.

So how is it possible that a player whose stats eclipse those of the two greatest players in history won’t win the MVP award? The answer may lie in a deeply negative shift that has taken over the NBA in the past decade. Beyond the overemphasis on three-point shooting, the softness of the game, the politicization, the lack of competitiveness and emotion (all neutralized by over-involved referees, some of whom have been caught in gambling scandals), we’re now facing a bizarre new phenomenon: xenophobia against European players.

Jokić, a three-time MVP, continues to face criticism not for his game, but for how he looks playing it. He’s called “slow,” “non-athletic,” and “boring to watch”—labels rarely applied to other dominant players. Former NBA player Kendrick Perkins, himself a middling talent at best, openly claimed on progressive ESPN that Jokić receives preferential treatment because he’s white. That shocking statement wasn’t just controversial—it may have tipped the scales. The MVP in the 2023 season actually went to Joel Embiid, despite Jokić leading Denver to its first-ever NBA championship in the very same year.

But the victimhood mentality and anti-white sentiment remined.

We’re seeing a similar pattern with Luka Dončić. Another monstrous talent. Another European. Another white player. Another Generational Genius. Putting up stat lines that surpass Bird, Magic, Jordan, and others—combined. And yet, he receives disdain from analysts. Curiously, many of the Black players in the league seem to respect Jokić and Dončić more than anyone. But the media? They’ve taken the post-George Floyd progressive wave and turned it into institutional commentator-level hatred.

And since it’s the journalists who vote for MVP, it’s no surprise that while 80% of fans believe Jokić deserves the award, it’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander who leads the race.

And of course, if a journalist dares to vote for “the white guy,” he's instantly branded a racist. At this point, it's not about basketball anymore—it’s about narratives. And frankly, it’s killing the spirit of the sport.

This isn’t just about race. Even Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Greek-Nigerian superstar of the Milwaukee Bucks, is met with noticeably cooler reception from American analysts. Why? Because he’s not one of their own. His global appeal—and that of other international players—may be seen as a threat to the financial relevance and media dominance of predominantly Black American commentators. The NBA markets itself as a global brand, but if it truly embraces that vision, it may force the American media establishment to relinquish the spotlight they've long held.

Wilt Chamberlain entered the league in the late 1950s and changed the sport forever. Now it seems the game, which once opened its door to Black athletes, must do the same once again—this time, for white players