It’s official, Denver Nuggets Center Nikola Jokic has become the 6th international player to win the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award. Jokic is the first player taken in the 2nd round to win the NBA’s most prestigious individual trophy, and joins Hakeem Olajuwon, Steve Nash, Tim Duncan, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Dirk Nowitzki as the only non-American born players to capture the honor.
Posting career highs in points, assists, and rebounds per game (26.4/8.3/10.8 respectively), Jokic was the runaway winner when voters cast their ballots.
The Serbian big man received a whopping 91 out of a possible 101 first place votes, beating out Embiid, Giannis, and Curry easily. In addition to posting career highs, Jokic also played in all 72 of Denver’s games this season, and was a key factor in the team locking up the 3rd seed in the West despite losing star guard Jamal Murray to a torn ACL.
Nikola told reporters afterwards “It’s a big accomplishment, but it’s something that, like I said to the guys, it’s not just me. I couldn’t do it by myself. It’s something that it is an individual award but it’s the effort of everybody who is part of the Denver Nuggets organization…The difference between this year was I started this season really well, I played kind of the whole season really well stat wise. I think this was the best season of my life and the cherry on the top is the trophy that I got. This is the best season of my life.”
Jokic becomes the first center to win the award since Shaquille O’Neal earned the nod in 2000 with the Los Angeles Lakers. The league, which has shifted dramatically to 3 point shot attempts, and cracking down on hand checks had favoured guards heavily in its annual MVP voting for years. However with the emergence of Giannis, Embiid perennially being in the mix for the award, and now Jokic capturing it outright, the NBA seems to be in a “big man renaissance” of sorts. The key difference being that the centers of old were renowned for their bruising inside presence, and physically intimidating stature.
While the Joker won’t be gracing the front cover of Men’s Health anytime soon with his physique (the internet is littered with heavily used meme’s showing a pudgy Jokic as a child anytime the Nuggets star seems to do anything noteworthy on the court), he more than makes up for it with his otherworldly passing skills. It’s common knowledge in NBA circles that Jokic is the best non-point guard passer in the league, and is quickly approaching “best passing big man” in NBA history territory.
Winning the award will also help Jokic’s bank account as well, as he is now eligible to sign a super max contract with the Nuggets following the 2021-22 season. As part of the current CBA, Nikola’s supermax deal with Denver could be north of $250M.
Jokic becomes the first Denver Nuggets player to capture the MVP award in franchise history. Not bad for a 26 year old from Sombor, Serbia.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner