Jokic Wins League MVP, Again
Jokic Wins League MVP, Again
Summary
When the Denver Nuggets tip-off in Minneapolis for Games Three and Four this weekend, they will officially have the Most Valuable Player on the court again. For the third time in four years, Nikola Jokic was voted MVP, as announced on Wednesday night by the NBA.
The voting wasn’t close as Jokic ran away in the ballot, getting 79 of a possible 99 first-place vote, with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder coming in second with 15 votes. Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks came in third place with 4 votes. This became the first time in the award’s 69-year history that international players went 1-2-3-4 in the voting. And a player born outside the U.S. won the award for the sixth consecutive year.
Jokic is now the ninth player to win the MVP award at least three times, with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar winning it six times, Bill Russell and Michael Jordan each winning five, Wilt Chamberlain and LeBron James winning four, and Moses Malone, Larry Bird, and Magic Johnson all three-time winners. Jokic averaged 26.4 points, 12.4 rebounds, and 9.0 assists in the regular season in 2023-24.