While the play-off excitement continues at full speed after the regular season in the NBA, the awards of the season find their owners one by one. Most Improved Player (MIP) Ja Morant, Rookie of the Year (ROY) Scottie Barnes, Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart, and season MVP were also announced.
Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic, Philadelphia 76ers’ Joel Embiid and Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo were the finalists in the MVP race. Nikola Jokic, who won the award last year, became the first center to be named MVP in the league after Shaquille O’Neal won in 2000.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarovski, Nikola Jokic beat Embiid and Antetokounmpo to win the MVP award for the second time in a row.
The 27-year-old player, who played 74 games this season, averaged 27.1 points, 13.8 rebounds, 7.9 assists, 1.5 steals and 0.9 blocks in 33.5 minutes per game. While the Serbian center’s points and rebounds were the highest of his career, he ranked 8th in the league in assists average. Jokic also finished the season with 58% field goal and 81% free throw. Jokic also became the first player in history to surpass 2000 points, 1000 rebounds and 500 assists in a single season.
The official announcement that Jokic, who is the 15th most valuable player in the NBA, has been selected as MVP, is expected to be made this week.
THE TEAM HAS BEEN PLAY-OFF WITH NO TWO KEY NAMES
Denver, who started the season completely devoid of Jamal Murray and could not benefit from the successful player, managed to finish the season in 6th place in the Western Conference, despite using Michael Porter Jr in only 9 games. Matching with the Golden State Warriors in the play-offs, the Denver Nuggets lost the series 4-1.
Jokic, who had triple-doubles 16 times last season, increased this number to 19 this year. Jokic hit a double-double by scoring 35 points or more in 5 consecutive matches, becoming the first player to do so after Karl Malone.
LEFT BEHIND EMBIID AND GIANNIS
Jokic’s biggest rivals in the MVP race were Joel Embiid and Giannis Antetokounmpo. Finishing 2nd in the voting, Embiid finished the season averaging 30.6 points – 11.7 rebounds and became the first center to become top scorer after Shaquille O’Neal in 2000.
Giannis Antetokounmpo, who placed 3rd in the recent voting and won the Finals MVP award last year, finished the season with 29.9 points – 11.6 rebounds – 5.8 assists averages.
