Nikola Jokic, the Denver Nuggets heart with the passing contact and capturing stroke of a guard, received the N.B.A.’s Most Precious Participant Award for the second consecutive season.
Jokic, 27, obtained 65 of 100 first-place votes. Final season, he was the best choice of 91 of 101 voters from members of the information media and a fan vote.
The 6-foot-11 Jokic stands out amongst massive males with how he can rating from inside and bang the boards, but additionally hit from exterior and discover open teammates. He averaged 27.1 factors per sport through the common season, the second most among centers, behind Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid, who was the league’s total scoring chief and completed second with 26 first-place votes. Jokic was best among centers in assists, with 7.9 per sport.
His skill to palm the ball and execute passes, rebounds and floaters with one hand has been likened to a participant in water polo, a sport Jokic loved as a baby in Serbia, the place the game is exceptionally in style. His mixture of expertise has made him the point of interest of the Nuggets’ sixth-ranked offense.
Jokic’s stats through the common season had been per final season’s M.V.P. figures, and he elevated his defensive rebounding to 11 a sport from 8. He ranked within the prime 10 in factors, assists and rebounds.
He grew to become the first player in N.B.A. history with 2,000 factors, 1,000 rebounds and 500 assists in a season. Solely Wilt Chamberlain, Kevin Garnett and Oscar Robertson have come within 10 percent of these three figures in statistics for a single season.
Jokic was a 19-year-old enjoying for Mega Basket of Serbia within the Adriatic League when the Nuggets drafted him within the second spherical in 2014. Jusuf Nurkic and Gary Harris, Denver’s first-rounders that yr by a commerce with Chicago, drew the eye, whereas Jokic was thought-about a speculative decide.
He got here to the N.B.A. within the 2015-16 season and completed third within the rookie of the yr voting, averaging 10 factors a sport. By his fourth season, in 2018-19, he was averaging 20.1 factors per sport and had been named an All-Star. That season, he led the Nuggets to their first playoff berth in six years and their first playoff sequence win in 10. Denver made it to the convention finals in 2019-20.
The lack of guard Jamal Murray for the 2021-22 season to a knee harm was a blow to the Nuggets, and as a sixth seed within the Western Convention playoffs, they misplaced within the first spherical to a sizzling Golden State group that was peaking on the proper time, 4 video games to 1.
The Nuggets’ future is at all times going to look shiny with Jokic on the roster. He said last month that he anticipated to signal a supermax contract extension with the group. “If supply’s on the desk in fact I’m going to simply accept it,” Jokic mentioned.
