The NBA has officially announced Nikola Jokić as the MVP for this year's 2021-2022 season. The votes were tight, with Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid coming in right behind, but in the end, the Denver Nuggets center took home the prestigious title...
Not only did Jokić earn this year's Most Valuable Player award, but he still holds the title from last year's season. That makes him the 13th player to win the highly-celebrated award in consecutive seasons, joining some of the NBA's finest such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Larry Bird, LeBron James, Magic Johnson, and Michael Jordan. The MVP award is based on a player's ability to affect a season, their stats, overall achievements, and more. Using a point system, a global panel of 100 broadcasters and sportswriters vote for the most valuable player. Jokić nabbed 875 points, and Joel Embiid came in second place with 706 points.
The 6-foot-11 Nuggets superstar seemed like the easy pick for this year's title with his excellent stats and ability to "score from inside and bang the boards, yet also hit from outside and find open teammates," according to The New York Times. The brilliant athlete is the first plater in NBA history with 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds, and 500 assists in a season - with only Wilt Chamberlain, Kevin Garnett, and Oscar Robertson coming within 10 percent of those statistics. Despite never winning an NBA championship title, there is no wonder he's taking home this year's MVP title.
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Serbian-born, Nikola Jokić, was drafted by the Nuggets as a second-round pick for the NBA in 2014; and the talented player was averaging 20.1 points a game just a few years later. In the 2018-19 season, he led his team to its first playoff game and series win in 10 after six years. The following season they made it all the way to the conference finals before the Lakers defeated them. Besides being one of the greatest basketball players of all time, Nikola Jokić has proven himself loyal to the team he started with. He is expected to sign a supermax contract extension with the team saying, "If the offer's on the table, of course, I'm going to accept it." Stay tuned.
