Is Nikola Jokic The NBA's MVP Once Again?
What is the criteria for winning the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award? Should the award go to the league’s best scorer or someone who may not score as much, but makes just as big of an impact in terms of rebounding or assists or all of the above?
And what about how good the team is? Should one of the league’s best players who is on a team not at the top of the standings have a fair shot at winning the MVP award at the end of the year?
If you have the answer to any of these questions, you may want to share it because nobody, even those who vote on the NBA’s end of season awards, knows what matters more in the voting process for the league’s MVP award!
This has become a massive topic of discussion in the NBA this season and once again, we find ourselves having the argument of Nikola Jokic vs. Joel Embiid vs. Giannis Antetokounmpo for the Most Valuable Player award.
Antetokounmpo won the award in 2019 and 2020, followed by Jokic winning the award the last two seasons in 2021 and 2022, and during both the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons, Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid finished No. 1 and No. 2 in the MVP voting, respectively.
Will this happen again for a third consecutive season?
No player has won the NBA’s MVP award in three consecutive years since Larry Bird did so from 1984-86 and in fact, Bird is just one of three players in league history to win the award three consecutive times, the others being Wilt Chamberlain (1966-68) and Bill Russell (1961-63)
Whether it is “voter fatigue” or some other factor, voters don’t typically like to award a player with the MVP award three straight seasons, but it is hard to overlook the success Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic has been having this season.
He is not averaging as high of a scoring mark nor rebounding mark as he did a season ago, but Jokic has improved in other areas that have gone extremely unnoticed. We have seen a near 25 percent increase in Jokic’s assists this season, he looks a lot more comfortable on the defensive-end of the floor, he is shooting a career-high 63.4 percent from the floor and most importantly, Nikola Jokic has led the Nuggets to having the best record in the Western Conference almost all season long.
Now, this is not to say that Joel Embiid and Giannis Antetokounmpo are not deserving of the NBA’s MVP honors, as they most certainly have great cases to be made against Jokic, but Denver’s center still remains the favorite in many people’s eyes, including those who cover the team daily.
On a recent episode of The Fast Break Podcast, DNVR’s Harrison Wind talked about Nikola Jokic’s MVP campaign and why he still believes that Jokic should win his third straight MVP award.
“I think this race is going to be extremely close. It seems like it is going to be Nikola Jokic or Joel Embiid at this point,” Wind stated. “Both guys are very deserving and this MVP race has been a massive storyline in the league all year long. People think that all of us in Denver hate Joel Embiid. He’s a remarkable player and he may not like to play in Denver when those two teams play, but he’s a phenomenal player. But, I am biased and I think Jokic should win the MVP again. He’s averaging a triple-double on 70 percent true shooting on the number one team in the West, they’ve been the top team in the conference all year long.”
Nikola Jokic once again leads the league in triple-doubles with 29 of them this season, he leads the league in true shooting percentage (70.4 percent), he leads the league in win shares (15.0) and Jokic also leads the league in Player Efficiency Rating (31.9), a metric that has ultimately decided every NBA MVP since the start of the 2015-16 season and all but two league MVPs since the start of the 2008-09 season.
“I think people are scared to give him MVP three-times in a row if we are being honest,” Wind said in regards to Jokic’s MVP campaign. “The funny thing is that this year is Jokic’s strongest case for MVP out of the last three seasons.”
Regardless of who you believe should be this season’s MVP, it is hard to argue the point that was made on the podcast of this being Nikola Jokic’s best season ever.
He is averaging just under a triple-double for the season, his team is the best in what has turned out to be a loaded Western Conference once again and the impact Jokic has had on his teammates, making them better overall players, is remarkable.
It will be very fascinating to see whether or not Nikola Jokic will once again win the NBA’s MVP award or if Joel Embiid will dethrone him for this title.
Be sure to catch up on the newest episode of The Fast Break Podcast hosted by Fastbreak's own Brett Siegel!
Streaming on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, The Fast Break Podcast takes you inside the league with the latest news, intel, rumors and interviews from those close to the action for all 30 teams. Be on the lookout for a new episodes every Friday.
