The question was asked to elicit a certain answer from the Denver Nuggets‘ two-time MVP Nikola Jokic.
“Do you care if you win MVP?” the reporter asked.
“Yes,” Jokic said.
“Why?”
“Because the last seven times I said no. Just to change it up,” Jokic replied.
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Jokic isn’t going to lose any sleep if he doesn’t win a third consecutive MVP this season, and maybe that apathy will cost him.
What he doesn’t care for is the narrative that surrounds the MVP discussion, which has been a drag this season.
Jokic, Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid and Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo are the three unofficial finalists for the award.
All will finish with great seasons and are deserving, and whoever wins, I’m not going to say the two others were wronged. Voters received ballots and have until a Monday deadline to submit their choices for the league’s awards.
On Tuesday, Embiid, who has never won the MVP while the other two have won the award twice, had 52 points, 13 rebounds, six assists and two blocks in the Sixers’ 103-101 victory against Boston in a potential second-round Eastern Conference playoff series preview.
After the game, Sixers coach Doc Rivers called the MVP race “over,” as if one game determines the MVP, just as Embiid sitting in a recent game against Denver shouldn’t remove him from consideration. It’s an all-encompassing award over an 82-game season.
Toxic is the word used describe MVP talk this season. The yelling, screaming, disagreeing and campaigning from media and teams, and sometimes at the expense of great players, are not good for the league. The MVP should be celebrated, even in debate. It’s devolved this season, taking the fun out of the race.
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Jokic was up against it from the start of the season. Only three players have won three consecutive MVPs — Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain and Larry Bird, with Bird the only one to win it back-to-back-to-back seasons with media voting. Players voted for Russell and Chamberlain.
Not only was Jokic competing against himself — he needed to have an even better season than 2021-22 — he was up against the best players in the game. But Jokic put together one of his best seasons, almost averaging a triple-double at 24.8 points, 11.9 rebounds and 9.8 assists per game while shooting a career-high 63.3% from the field and a solid 38.5% on 3s.
And unlike last season, when the Nuggets were the sixth seed in the West, they likely will finish with the No. 1 seed this season. But perhaps Jokic’s take-or-leave-it attitude about the award hurts him, along with the notion of giving someone else the award.
Like LeBron James in seasons he didn’t win MVP, Giannis Antetokounmpo might be considered the best basketball player in the world right now. Strong and with more command of his skills, Antetokounmpo averages 31.1 points, 11.8 rebounds and 5.7 assists and shoots 55.3% from the field. The Bucks have the best record in the NBA and just about have the overall No. 1 seed secured.
If your argument for the MVP is for the best player on the best team, Antetokounmpo is the guy. If he wins, it would be his third.
Then there’s Embiid. This is his best season — with career-highs in points per game (33.3), shooting percentage from the field (54.7%) and field goals made per game (11), and has matched career-highs in 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, in third place in the East and considered contenders with Embiid and James Harden.
A first-place vote for Embiid shouldn’t be a sympathy vote because he has never won the MVP.
Today’s voters have so many tools to evaluate players and can parse traditional statistics with advanced stats. And sometimes, it comes down to a voter’s preference in style: Whose game do they like more?
Voter fatigue is usually when a voter is tired of the same player winning an award and someone else wins. This season, voter fatigue comes from the joy that has been stolen from the conversation.
