And three! Wednesday evening in the United States, Serbian Nikola Jokic was named best player of the regular season (MVP, “Most Valuable Player”) for the third time in his career after 2021 and 2022. A reign interspersed with a second place in 2023 behind Cameroonian Joel Embiid but the individual disappointment was offset by Jokic’s first championship title with the Denver Nuggets.
This season, Jokic averaged 26.4 points, 12.4 rebounds and 9 assists for Denver, second in the Western Conference after the 82 regular season games. The giant (2.11 m) is also the second player in NBA history, after Oscar Robertson in the 1960s, to record at least 2,000 points, 900 rebounds and 600 assists during a season.
For the third year in a row, no American player was in the running among the three finalists for the MVP title. Jokic was opposed to Canadian leaders Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Oklahoma City Thunder) and Slovenian Luka Doncic (Dallas Mavericks). The last American MVP was James Harden in 2018. The voters, a college of journalists and consultants, placed the Serbian 79 times in the first time, compared to 15 for Gilgeous-Alexander and four for Doncic.
Alongside Magic Johnson or Larry Bird
At 29, Jokic is the ninth player to be named MVP three or more times. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar holds the all-time record with six MVPs, Bill Russell and Michael Jordan each have five titles and Wilt Chamberlain and LeBron James four. Moses Malone, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson were, like Jokic, each three-time MVPs.
Nikola Jokic paid tribute to his teammates. “Without them, I can’t do anything,” he said during the MVP announcement broadcast on TNT. “The coaches, the players, the organization, the medical staff, the full-time coaches, the development coaches – it’s a big circle without which I couldn’t be where I am.”
It remains to be seen whether Jokic will be able to combine an MVP award and the NBA title this season. The Nuggets lost the first two games of the Western Conference semifinals against the Minnesota Timberwolves, and must try to recover on the Timberwolves’ home court starting Friday.
The MVP title is the last of the end-of-season awards awarded by the NBA this year. Earlier this week, Frenchmen Rudy Gobert (Minnesota Timberwolves) and Victor Wembanyama (San Antonio Spurs) were named best defender and “rookie of the year” respectively.
