El serbi Nikola Jokic, pivot of the Denver Nuggets, won this Wednesday the third MVP to the most valuable player of the regular season of the NBA, ahead of the Canadian Shai Gilgeous Alexander, of the Oklahoma City Thunder, and the Slovenian Luka Doncic, of the Dallas Mavericks.
Jokic had already won the MVP in the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 seasons and this year he replaced Joel Embiid, pivot of the Philadelphia 76ers, who was out of the running for this award for not having fulfilled the minimum number of games required (65 ) provided by NBA rules.
The Nuggets leader received a total of 79 votes; Gilgeous Alexander was second with 15, while Doncic had 4. Greek Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks received one vote. Jokic averaged 26.4 points, 12.4 rebounds and 9 assists per game in this season with the Nuggets, who acceded to the playoffs as second ranked in the Western Conference behind the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Serbian pivot 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 trailing 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 Gilgeous Alexander averaged 30.1 points, 5.5 rebounds and 6.2 assists per game with the Thunder, rivals of the Mavericks in the second round of the playoffs from the west
Jokic now has three MVPs in his portfolio 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).
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2024-05-09 11:27:34
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