Some talking heads balked a year ago at the idea of Nikola Jokic getting a third MVP trophy without having won anything in the postseason (ignoring that it is a regular season award).
Nobody should be complaining now (even if the timing is a little awkward with his team struggling in the playoffs) — Jokic won his third NBA MVP award. Jokic becomes only the ninth player in NBA history to win three or more MVPs.
Jokic got 79 first-place votes out of the 99 cast by a panel of media members. Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished second and Dallas’ Luka Doncic was third.
The complete voting results for the 2023-24 Kia NBA Most Valuable Player. pic.twitter.com/Dqbd7MaRjC
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) May 8, 2024
Jokic’s numbers are MVP-worthy: 26.4 points, 12.4 rebounds, and 9 assists per game, shooting 35.9% from 3, 25 triple-doubles — and the advanced stats love him more than the conventional ones.
However, stats don’t tell the whole story with Jokic. He is different than other superstars because he controls the game without dominating the ball. There are other gifted passers and scorers — like Luka Doncic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander —but the ball lives in their hands. Jokic is more of a puppeteer, pulling the strings of the game and making it go his way. Because of that he turns good players such as Aaron Gordon and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope into key cogs of a championship team.
While there was a surprisingly large gap behind Jokic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Luka Doncic were close in second and third. SGA got 15 first-place votes and 40 second-place votes, while Doncic had four first-place votes and 38 second-place votes. Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo finished fourth, the Knicks’ Jalen Brunson was fifth and Boston’s Jayson Tatum finished sixth.
Jokic joins a select group of stars who have won three or more MVPs: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (six), Michael Jordan (five), Bill Russell (five), Wilt Chamberlain (four), LeBron James (four), Larry Bird (three), Magic Johnson (three) and Moses Malone (three).
