May 09, (THEWILL) –Â Nikola Jokic has been named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the 2021-22 season, winning the award for the second year in a row.
Back-to-back MVP titles for Jokic mirror what fellow finalist, Giannis Antetokounmpo, achieved in the 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 seasons. Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers, the third finalist, has never won the award.
Apart from assists, Jokic’s per-game averages in every major statistical category improved during the regular season. He averaged 27.1 points, 13.8 rebounds, 0.9 blocks, and 1.5 steals per game, all career highs. He also shot 58.3 percent from the field, and while he did not match his career high in free throw percentage or 3-point percentage, he did set career highs in total free throws, with 379, and 3-pointers, with 97.
The race between Jokic, Embiid and Antetokounmpo, was a tough one. Embiid led the league in scoring with 30.6 points per game. With a 51-31 record, Antetokounmpo’s Milwaukee Bucks earned the highest seed of the three, finishing third in the Eastern Conference. Due to tiebreakers, Embiid’s 76ers finished fourth despite having the same record.
Despite winning three less games than Jokic’s Nuggets, the Nuggets were a number 6 seed in the West and were eliminated in the first round by the Golden State Warriors. To bring their teams to where they are now, all three MVP finalists had to overcome significant obstacles.
While Lopez eventually returned, and Simmons was sold to the 76ers for James Harden, no such relief came for Jokic. This season, star teammate Jamal Murray did not play a single game, and number 3 option Michael Porter Jr. only appeared in nine. Jokic’s club may have had a poorer record than the other two, but his ability to keep the Nuggets afloat without their second and third best players earned him this award.
Jokic joins Bob Pettit, Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Moses Malone, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Karl Malone, Tim Duncan, Steve Nash, LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Antetokounmpo as the 15th player to win multiple MVP trophies. Although Spencer Haywood won an ABA MVP title when the team was still known as the Denver Rockets, he is the only Nugget to win an NBA MVP trophy.
Denver never had a realistic chance at a title this season with Murray and Porter out, but Jokic carried them into the playoffs in ways no other player could have. Plus, in terms of style or standings, Jokic is not your typical MVP, but the voters went for him and there was nothing stopping him emerging as the most valuable player of the 2021-22 NBA season.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
