Three days after setting a franchise record coming back from 19 points down in the 4th quarter, Kevin Durant and the Phoenix Suns made a bid for an encore storming back from a 21-point hole against the Denver Nuggets Friday night.
But Nikola Jokic had other ideas, such as producing the NBA’s first ever 30-20-20 game. Actually, check that. He could care less about individual accolades.
“It’s gonna be nice to go finish my career, on my couch, and think I had a really good game,” he joked in his on-court interview postgame. Not exactly dwelling on the fact, any more so than cares to engage with the latest MVP talk involving him.
That doesn’t mean the rest of us can’t gush over his accomplishments and hyper-fixate on superficial narratives like MVP odds. Durant, for one, wants to set the record straight about where Jokic stands in this year’s race.
Per Kevin Durant, Nikola Jokic Is Past Underdog Status in MVP Talks
In the locker room after the Suns’ 149-141 loss, sent to overtime by Durant’s buzzer-beating three, a reporter asked the Suns star about Jokic being an “underdog” to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for MVP.
“No he’s not an underdog,” said a peeved KD, who won the award in 2013-14. “Stop it. I’m not gonna let y’all keep doing that. Jokic is never the underdog, in any situation. Stop.”
Already a three-time winner, Jokic trails SGA by a substantial margin in the betting market, with odds as high as +250 while Shai sits near -300. Friday night against Phoenix, though, he showed why he can take over a game more completely than any other player.
Haters might call it stat-padding, and yes, the game went to overtime, but his 31 points, 21 rebounds and 22 assists reflect the sheer magnitude of his impact. He made 13 of his 22 shots and also recorded three steals.
“So you think it should be him?” the reporter asked the wryly grinning star.
“I’m just saying he shouldn’t be an underdog, I don’t know who it should it be. They’re both playing great ball, but Jokic can never be an under dog again. That shit was out the window his first MVP.”
The first time Jokic won, in 2020-21, he earned 91 of 101 first-place votes. The next season he topped Joel Embiid again by taking 65 first-place votes. Embiid finally captured the award in 2022-23, the year Denver won the Finals. Some still feel that Jokic was robbed.
After winning his third MVP last season, he is having the best year of his career. How does he measure up to frontrunner SGA?
What About Voter Fatigue?
Joker’s numbers this season are among the greatest of all time. Averaging 28.9 points, 12.6 rebounds and 10.6 assists, the Serbian center is shooting 57.7% from the field and 43.8% on threes. His true shooting hovers at an incredible 66.4%.
He and SGA are neck and neck in advanced metrics. Not taking anything away from SGA’s MVP-caliber season, many of these metrics, like Net Rating, are influenced by team play, something that benefits individual player stats on a deep, balanced team like the Thunder or Cavaliers.
In on-off win probability, Jokic leads the NBA with a figure of 15.79. SGA, the league leader in points scored at 32.8, sits second at 14.29.
Even by MVP standards both players are having unbelievable seasons. The fact that Jokic already has three trophies behind glass might tip the scales in favor of giving Shai, last season’s runner-up, his first.
Is voter fatigue fair, though?
“I don’t think that’s fair at all,” Durant opened. “If a guy is balling out, he’s balling out. I’m glad I don’t have to make that decision, between him and Shai. But it’s only good for our league when you see guys like that, when you don’t see a clearcut MVP. … It’s going to be a race down to the wire.”
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