Nikola Jokic may have just put together the single best season in NBA history, and he is not expected to win MVP over Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. He finished the season averaging career-highs in points, steals, assists, and 3-point percentage.
He is also the first player in NBA history to rank in the top ten in points per game, rebounds, assists, and steals. No one else has ever finished in the top ten of all of those categories, and he is in the top three of every single one.
By all metrics, he is having a better season than any of his previous three MVP seasons, and the Nuggets, who went .610 this season, have been worse in previous MVP seasons by the Joker.
He also joined Oscar Robertson and Russell Westbrook as the only players in league history to average a triple-double.
However, Gilgeous-Alexander is still the frontrunner, for just one simple reason: voter fatigue.
Giving Jokic his fourth MVP would further cement him as an all-time great, and, as evidenced by his snub in 2023, the league does not want to give the award to the best player every season, it would instead rather create narratives.
For the fifth season in a row, Jokic is leading the league in both VORP and PER.
The NBA wants to market itself as the best and most competitive league in the world, but when the Michael Jordan Trophy gets handed out with the insouciant attitude of a youth soccer league giving out plastic participation awards, it’s hard to take the voting systems seriously.
Jokic’s snub in 2023 was a travesty, and history will repeat itself once again.