Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic lost out on this year’s NBA MVP award to Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. It would’ve been Jokic’s fourth MVP of his NBA career.
Jokic garnered 29 first-place votes and 71 second-place votes for 787 points, while Gilgeous-Alexander had 71 first-place votes and 29 second-place votes for 913 points.
However, despite finishing as the runner-up this season, Jokic joined some exclusive company. The Denver Nuggets star joins Boston Celtics legend Larry Bird as the only players in NBA history to finish in the Top 2 in MVP voting in five consecutive years, per Statmuse.
Jokic guided the Denver Nuggets to a 50-32 regular season record. His team defeated the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round but lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the next round.
Denver Nuggets News: Nikola Jokic’s MVP snub gets positive message from Dwight Howard
Dwight Howard congratulated Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for winning this season’s MVP trophy. The former NBA center also lauded Nikola Jokic, with whom he had his share of frontcourt duels.
“Shai 🔥🔥🔥 but Jokic is still the greatest mvp snub of all time good worker Joker,” Howard posted on X (formerly known as Twitter).
The Denver Nuggets star averaged a triple-double for the first time. Jokic posted 29.6 points, 12.7 rebounds, 10.2 assists, and 1.8 steals on 58/42/80 shooting splits across 70 regular season starts.
