“If you look at the recent MVP voting, it’s the age of the big man.”
The email from the editor in charge contained such a word.
Certainly, the MVP of the 2021-22 season was selected by Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic (height 211 cm). It is the second year in a row that he won the award following the previous season. Furthermore, Joel Embiid (213 cm), the center of the Philadelphia 76ers, competed with him for the MVP position this time. Looking at this result alone, it seems that he has returned to the heyday of the big man and the heyday of the center.
Center Nikola Jokic won MVP for the second year in a row
See photos related to this article
Basketball is a sport where taller people have an advantage. No wonder it’s a sport where you compete to get the ball into a ring that’s 10 feet high, out of reach for most people.
In fact, until the 1970s, most NBA MVPs were tall center players. After that, guards and forwards such as Magic Johnson and Larry Bird in the 1980s and Michael Jordan in the 1990s became stars, but still dominant players such as Hakeem Olajuwon and Shaquille O’Neal Centers were also active, and were sometimes selected as MVPs.
Since the beginning of the 21st century, the center has become an unsung hero, and is no longer selected as an MVP. Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki, Kobe Bryant and the heyday of point guards and wings followed. Last year, Jokic was the center MVP for the first time in 21 years.
However, just because the centers competed for the MVP does not mean that the current NBA has returned to the big man heyday like before. Rather, it may be said that it is an era of center suffering.
