EThe pvot of the Denver Nuggets, Nikola Jokichas been chosen NBA Most Valuable Player for the second consecutive season, segn announces ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
The numbers of Jokic were even better this year than last year, as they averaged career highs of 27.1 points and 13.8 rebounds per game. I also averaged 7.9 assists. Jokic also became the first player in NBA history with 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 500 assists in a season.
Even so, the season has not been easy at all for the Serbian who has had to pull the bandwagon Nuggets very lonely throughout the year. None of the other stars on the team were there to help him. Jamal Murray blanked out the campaign while recovering from a serious knee injury and MMichael Porter Jr. He only played nine games due to a back injury. Nonetheless, Jokic managed to lead Denver to the Playoffs after finishing fifth in the Western Conference. In the Playoffs, the Colorado fell to Golden State in five games in the first round.
Jokic becomes the fifteenth player in NBA history who is capable of repeating a season MVP award, the first pvot to do so since Moses Malone in 1982 and 1983, and the second consecutive player to achieve a ‘back-to-back’ after Giannis Antetokounmpo in 2018-19 and 2019-20.
The Greek, by the way, was one of the finalists in the final voting along with the Cameroonian from the Sixers, Joel Embiid. but none lived up to ‘The Joker’, to be named MVP officially by the NBA this week.
“What has been done Nikola Jokic this year is incredible,” said his coach in Denver recently, Mike Malone. “I know I may seem unobjective, but I mean it from the heart. What Jokic has done for his team this season is huge”. The coach clearly defended his player’s MVP candidacy.
The prize will be one more argument for the player in a very busy summer, since the Nuggets will try to extend your contractand the Serbian could receive a mega offer to renew five years and $254 million, beginning the 2023-24 season. For next year, the last of his current commitment, he will receive 33.6 million.
