For the second straight year, Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic of Sombor, Serbia, has been named the National Basketball Association most valuable player according to the Associated Press. This past season he averaged 27.1 points per game, 13.8 rebounds per game, 7.9 assists per game, a field goal percentage of .583, three-point percentage of .337, and a free throw percentage of .810. Jokic also led the NBA in rebounds (1019), defensive rebounds (813), and triple doubles (19).
One could argue that Jokic was even better in 2021-22 than the 2020-21 NBA season, when he won the NBA MVP award for the first time in his career. Last year he averaged 26.4 points per game.
Jokic becomes the 13th player to win the NBA MVP award two years in a row. He follows Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Moses Malone, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Tim Duncan, Steve Nash, LeBron James, Stephen Curry, and Giannis Antetokounmpo. In fact, Antetokounmpo won the award two straight years in 2019 and 2020 before Jokic won in 2021.
Two players have won the NBA MVP award three straight years. They are Russell (1961-63), and Chamberlain (1966-68).
As a team in 2021-22, the Nuggets finished sixth in the Western Conference with a record of 48 wins and 34 losses. They then lost in five games to the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference semifinals.
Even though Jokic is very valuable to the Nuggets, it was extremely clear Denver significantly missed their star guard Jamal Murray of Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. Murray missed the entire season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament, he suffered in April of 2021.
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