The MVP award has been won by Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic for the last two seasons. He joined an exclusive list of players to have won the award two straight years and is looking to break into an even more exclusive group by winning the award a third time this season.
Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain and Larry Bird are the only players in NBA history to win the award in three consecutive seasons. To accomplish that you have to do something truly special on the court and that is exactly what Jokic is doing.
Jokic is currently averaging a triple-double, putting up 24.7 points, 11.5 rebounds and 10.1 assists in 33.6 minutes per game. He is an extremely efficient player as well, making 63.2 percent of his shot attempts overall, 39.1 percent of his 3-pointers and 82.2 percent of his foul shots.
He is certainly making a strong case for a third consecutive MVP award as only two players, Oscar Robertson and Russell Westbrook, have averaged a triple-double for an entire season. In addition to his success, the Nuggets are having an incredible season, currently sitting atop the Western Conference.
NBA NEWS & MVP RACE: Nikola Jokic & Denver Nuggets Updates
That is the perfect combination when making a case to take home the prestigious award. As a result, in the most recent straw poll shared by Tim Bontemps of ESPN, Jokic is running away with the MVP award.
“As a result, Jokic was the runaway leader in the second edition of ESPN’s NBA MVP Straw Poll of the 2022-23 season, registering 77 out of 100 first-place votes and finishing with 913 total points, putting him in prime position to make history at season’s end.”
The next closest person on the straw poll is Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks. He received 11 first-place votes and 552 total points, showcasing just how big the gap between Jokic and the rest of the field is.
NBA NEWS & MVP RACE: Nikola Jokic & Denver Nuggets Updates
Earlier this season it was Jayson Tatum that was leading the straw poll, but the results were very close. It was the closest of any of the 12 straw polls done in the last few years as no one had yet emerged as a leader. Injuries to the other top MVP candidates led to an opening being made and Jokic has come crashing through.
If he continues on this pace, the MVP award for the 2022-23 season will be his to lose. Antetokounmpo, Tatum, Joel Embiid and Luka Doncic will do their best to try and track him down, but as the latest straw poll indicates, Jokic has seized control of the MVP race as we enter the All-Star break.
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