- “I’m watching Jokic pass the ball, and I’m watching his guys catch and shoot, no hesitation, good or bad shot, and let me tell you one thing: Conversations goes [sic] on in that locker room, and players know what their stats are,” Perkins had initially charged.
- After Perkins made his initial comments disparaging Jokic, fellow NBA commentator J.J. Redick took him to task, saying, “I strongly disagree with this. Look, I’ve never been Nikola Jokic’s teammate. If you ask anyone that’s been around him … Nikola Jokic does not care about stats, does not care about averaging a triple-double. Nikola Jokic — I hate to tell everyone — doesn’t care about winning an MVP. He cares about winning a championship.”
- “The idea that he’s stat-padding,” Redick continued, then quoted Jokic’s coach Mike Malone.
