1. Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets
2. Luka Doncic, Dallas Mavericks
3. Joel Embiid, Philadelphia 76ers
4. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City Thunder
5. Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics
The Next Five: Anthony Edwards, Tyrese Haliburton, Kevin Durant, Giannis Antetokounmpo, LeBron James.
You get your respect when you show of in the playoffs. Jokic got to a conference finals before he got his mvps. If and when he proves that he is as good in the playoffs as he is in the regular season, then i see no reason why he wouldnt be able to get one.
But just giving a guy that doesnt have superior performances or stats (compared to the guys ahead of him) the award instead of already proven guys is questionable and maybe even dissrespectful. Even if you ignore Jokic and Embid, Luka has been a favorite to get it for years now and unless the Thunder are head and shoulders above the competition, i cant see Shai getting it for now.
Regular season award for the current season.
Yeah thats something we pretend it is. But its also quite the narative driven award. When the competition comes down to a few players, you start to look at other things than judt their individual performance. Cause if it was a strictly performance based award, Lebron would have a lot more of them. And a few players would in reality. Hell a lot of players that do have them, probably wouldnt.
Jokic should have won it last year, but it was given to Embid because Jokic won is 2 years in a row and Embid was very close to winning it each of those 2 years so they gave it to him.
Now Shai does have what it takes to win it, but his competition has just as much. And unlike Shai, they actually have great playoff success. Hell i gurantee to you if the Mavs are a top seed, its gonna be Luka.
With the amount of MVP hype he gets every year, it would be shocking if someone else would get it. Its really just been his teams standings that have been draging him down.
Your logic falls apart when you look at Embiid who still hasn’t left the second round and continuously puts up worse stats in the playoffs.
Well it was only last season when people actually looked at his playoffs stats and realised that they sucked. Even then the last 2 seasons were especially bad. But in the regular season his stats were amazing and he got his team a good record.
Still he did consistently get to the 2nd round. Add to it that the man campaigbed for it, while Jokic bowed out of the competition althogether.
Bow the playoffs arent really a major +, but its rare for someone to get the award without at least making the playoffs.