by The question was posed to get some answer from two-time Denver Nuggets MVP Nikola Jokic.
“Do you care if you win MVP?” asked the reporter.
“Yes,” Jokic said.
“For what?”
“Because the last seven times I said no. Just to change it,” Jokic replied.
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Jokic isn’t going to lose any sleep if he doesn’t win a third straight MVP this season, and maybe that apathy will cost him.
What he doesn’t care about is the narrative surrounding the MVP discussion, which has been a drag this season.
Jokic, Joel Embiid of Philadelphia and Giannis Antetokounmpo of Milwaukee are the three unofficial finalists for the award.
All of them will end up with great seasons and deserve each other, and whoever wins, I’m not going to say that the other two were short-changed. Voters have received ballots and have until Monday’s deadline to submit their picks for league awards.
On Tuesday, Embiid, who has never won the MVP title while the other two have won the award twice, had 52 points, 13 rebounds, six assists and two blocks in the Sixers’ 103-101 win. against Boston in a possible Eastern second round. Conference playoff preview.
After the game, Sixers coach Doc Rivers called the MVP run “over,” as if one game determined the MVP, much like Embiid sitting in a recent game against Denver shouldn’t remove him from consideration. . This is an overall price over an 82-game season.
Toxic is the word used to describe the MVP talk this season. Yelling, shouting, disagreements and campaigning from the media and teams, and sometimes at the expense of big players, is not good for the league. The MVP should be celebrated, even in the debate. It is vested this season, taking away the fun of racing.
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Jokic was against him since the start of the season. Only three players have won three consecutive MVPs – Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain and Larry Bir, with Bird being the only one to win it two consecutive seasons by media vote. The players voted for Russell and Chamberlain.
Not only was Jokic competing against himself – he was expected to have an even better season than 2021-22 – but he was up against the best players in the game. But Jokic had one of his best seasons, nearly posting a triple-double at 24.8 points, 11.9 rebounds and 9.8 assists per game while hitting a career-high 63.3% on the ground and a solid 38.5% over 3s.
And unlike last season, when the Nuggets were the sixth seed in the West, they will likely finish as the No. 1 seed this season. But perhaps Jokic’s take-it-or-leave-it attitude about the award hurts him, as well as the idea of giving the award to someone else.
Like LeBron James in the season he failed to win the MVP title, Giannis Antetokounmpo could be considered the best basketball player in the world right now. Strong and better in control of his skills, Antetokounmpo is averaging 31.1 points, 11.8 rebounds and 5.7 assists and shooting 55.3% from the field. The Bucks have the best record in the NBA and are roughly the No. 1 seed overall.
If your argument for MVP is for the best player on the best team, Antetokounmpo is the guy. If he wins, it will be his third.
Then there is Embiid. It’s his best season – with career highs in points per game (33.3), field goal percentage (54.7%) and goals scored per game (11), and tied highs in career free throw percentage (85.9%) and assists per game (4.2) while averaging 10.2 rebounds, 1.7 blocks and one steal.
The Sixers are 52-27, third in the East and considered contenders along with Embiid and James Harden.
A first-place vote for Embiid shouldn’t be a vote of sympathy because he never won MVP.
Today’s voters have many tools to evaluate players and can analyze traditional stats with advanced stats. And sometimes it comes down to a voter’s style preference: Which game do they prefer?
Voter fatigue usually occurs when a voter is tired of the same player winning a prize and someone else winning. This season, voter fatigue comes from the joy that has been stolen from conversation.
