On a night where the Denver Nuggets clinched a postseason berth for the 4th consecutive year, reigning MVP Nikola Jokic made a bit of history of his own as well.
The Serbian big man became the first player in NBA history to post at least 2,000pts/1,000reb/500asts in a season. His 35pts/16reb/6ast/5stl effort Thursday was enough to push him into the most exclusive club in the league, and further strengthens his MVP case on the year.
Nuggets head coach Mike Malone couldn’t stop singing Jokic’s praises following the game. “The MVP isn’t even a competition…There’s other great players. I’m not saying they’re not great players. But what Nikola Jokic has done this year — with this team, everything we’ve had to go through — is just incredible. He was good last year, and he’s even better this year.”
The Nuggets (48-33) have been without the services of star players Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. for the entirety of the season. Despite that, Jokic and his Denver teammates managed to remain competitive in the Western Conference all season long and managed to avoid the play-in tournament in the process as well.
As good as the centre’s season was last year, his 2021-22 campaign looks even better when you consider the fact that defenses are now actively gameplanning around his presence on the floor. For the year Jokic is averaging a 27.1pts/13.8reb/7.9ast statline. He’s also averaging a career high in steals per game (1.5), blocks (0.9), and FG% (.583).
Last year’s MVP race saw Jokic capture 91 first place votes to run away with the MVP award. His 971 total voter points easily outpaced Joel Embiid’s 586pts, in a result which could play out in very similar fashion when ballots are cast this season as well.
Standing between Jokic and a second consecutive MVP award are Joel Embiid, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Luka Doncic. However an ESPN straw poll conducted at the end of March showed that voters were leaning towards awarding the Nuggets Centre the MVP crown once more.
Since then, the Serb has averaged 38pts/17.5reb/6ast per game for the month of April, likely solidifying his status as front runner for the award as the season winds down. If he does indeed take home the MVP trophy, Jokic will join another elite club of players to win the award in consecutive seasons.
In NBA history, only Giannis, Curry, James, Nash, Duncan, Jordan, Magic Johnson, Moses Malone, Kareem, Bird, Chamberlain, and Bill Russell have managed to accomplish the feat.
Jokic and the Nuggets have one game remaining on their schedule against the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday April 10th. Whether or not Jokic suits up for the affair will likely be decided by the results of other games.
If Utah loses their remaining games against the Suns and Trailblazers, the Nuggets could still leapfrog them in the standings. With the Northwest division title, and playoff seeding very much still up for grabs, the MVP hopeful may have one game left to add to his regular season resume.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner
Photo: All-Pro Reels. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.