Last season, Nikola Jokic almost became the fourth player after Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, and Larry Bird to win three straight MVP awards.
Joel Embiid eventually won the award, but this is more of a good thing for Jokic, as The Joker would gain a Finals MVP award because he led the Denver Nuggets to their first-ever championship.
And if you know what we know now, Jokic could have been the league's first-ever four consecutive MVP winner. As it stands, Jokic joins Russell, Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, and LeBron James as the only players to win three MVP awards in five seasons. The field is trimmed down to two if you make this four of five seasons, with Russell getting it from 1960 to 1965, and LBJ owning the distinction from 2008 to 2013.
Jokic is always a triple-double magnet. His numbers say it all.
However, Denver can't have Jokic as MVP.
2020-21 NBA SEASON
Jokic became the first Nugget to win MVP and after dropping the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round, they were swept by the Phoenix Suns in the second round.
2021-22 NBA SEASON
Jokic was gentlemanly swept by the Golden State Warriors in the first round of the 2022 NBA Playoffs. While at least he won his second MVP title, Jokic has an MVP playoff record of five wins and ten losses.
And as of press time, Denver is down 0-2 against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
With apologies to the awesomeness of Jokic, I thought what he brought to the games had turned normal. It's almost automatic for everyone to perceive that Jokic will have a TD or an almost TD. This season, I thought Luka Doncic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander deserved the distinction more. Shaquille O'Neal is polarizing, especially in hot takes, but yeah, it sucks to be the second placer. For Luka, he's bound to slip down as a perennial first-teamer. Including Doncic, there are only 20 players that have five All-NBA First Teams. Yes, Luka as of this moment has four All-NBA First Team citations, but with three main competitors for the plum, his entry is almost automatic.
And yeah, Shaq sympathized more with SGA than with Luka, but this is just SGA's about-to-be second All-NBA selection. The Oklahoma City Thunder is a young team that could unleash hell for a long time barring injuries, egos, and contract disputes.
I guess the NBA thinks highly of The Joker. This is the next step to further broaden the league's reach through other sponsored leagues in Europe, as well as expand the league to neighboring countries like Canada (at least two more teams,) and Mexico. Jokic's win is proof of basketball's incredible reach, and it's a less expensive alternative as compared to expansion.
But yeah, it's really hard to forget how awesome Jokic's numbers are. To disregard his almost triple-double stats is insane.