Basketball
Nikola Jokic Wins NBA MVP Title For Third Time in Four Years
by privatebet.com - 2024/05/11
Nikola Jokic is no stranger to holding the NBA MVP trophy in his hands, and he’ll get to do it again. The Denver Nuggets superstar won the league's Most Valuable Player award for the third time in four years, joining some elite company along the way. The Serbian basketball sensation was named MVP in 2021 and 2022 and was runner-up last year, but eventually lost out to Joel Embiid. He received 79 of a possible 99 first-place votes this time around, defeating Oklahoma City Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Dallas Mavericks’ Luka Doncic. Jokic stayed humble in the face of his latest achievement and said that the rest of his team deserves as much credit for helping him get where he is today. “It’s got to start with your teammates. Without them, I’m nothing. Without them, I cannot do nothing. Coaches, players, organization, medical staff, development coaches … I cannot be whoever I am without them,” said Jokic on TNT. Jokic joins Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and Moses Malone on the list of three-time NBA MVP winners, and he’s one of nine NBA players to win this award three or more times. The all-time record is still held by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who was named MVP a record six times. Michael Jordan and Bill Russell have five awards, while Wilt Chamberlain and LeBron James have been named MVP on four separate occasions.