The Serbian Nikola Jokic, center of the Denver Nuggets, won this Wednesday the third Most Valuable Player MVP of the regular season of the NBA, by preceding Canadian Shai Gilgeous Alexander, of the Oklahoma City Thunder, and Slovenian Luka Doncic, of the Dallas Mavericks, in the voting.
Jokic had already won the MVP in the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 seasons and this year replaced Joel Embiid, center of the Philadelphia 76ers, who was left out of the fight for this award for not having met the minimum number of games necessary ( 65) provided for by NBA rules.
The Nuggets leader received a total of 79 votes; Gilgeous Alexander was second with 15, while Doncic received 4. The Greek Giannis Antetokounmpo, of the Milwaukee Bucks, received one vote. Jokic averaged 26.4 points, 12.4 rebounds and 9 assists per game this season with the Nuggets, who entered the playoffs as second in the Western Conference behind the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Serbian center achieved 25 triple doubles in the regular season and has two in the postseason, in which the Nuggets eliminated the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round (4-1). In the second, the NBA champions are losing 0-2 in the series against the third-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves.
Doncic averaged 33.9 points, 9.2 rebounds and 9.8 assists this season with the Dallas Mavericks and Ilgeous Alexander averaged 30.1 points, 5.5 rebounds and 6.2 assists per game with the Thunder, the Mavericks’ rivals in the second round of the Western playoffs.
Jokic now sports three MVPs in his showcases and joined a group of eight other players: Kareem Abdul Jabbar (6), Michael Jordan (5), Bill Russell (5), Wilt Chamberlain (4), LeBron James (4), Magic Johnson (3), Moses Malone (3) and Larry Bird (3).
2024-05-09 02:27:54
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