The center of Denver Nuggets Nikola Jokić is not one for self -promotion. After consecutive games against the Oklahoma City Thunder, who are led by his most valuable players candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jokić held his comments on the succinto prize race.
“This is my third or fourth consecutive year, so I’m really, I don’t know, I can’t control it,” Jokić told journalists after Denver 140-127 in Oklahoma City on Monday. “I will say that I am playing the best basketball of my life, so if that is enough, it is enough. If not, the guy deserves it. It is really incredible.”
Jokić, who won the award in 2021, 2022 and 2024 and ended in second place with the Joel Embiid of the 76ers of the Philadelphia in 2023, scored 35 points in 15 of 20 shots, with 18 rebounds, eight assists, a robbery, a block and only a volume of business in 40 minutes on Monday. In the season, it is averaging a maximum of 28.9 points (No. 3 in the NBA), 13.0 rebounds (No. 3) and a race of 10.5 assists (No. 2) per game. In addition to shooting 3 often that in previous seasons, he is trying 5.8 per 100 possessions, he is shooting them more accurately (43%) than ever.
Before the game, Jokić was listed as questionable due to a contusion of the right elbow and an impulse of the left ankle. The Nugget coach Michael Malone told journalists that, after his defeat for 127-103 in the same Arena on Sunday, he had communicated with Jokić to discuss the possibility of taking the second night back on his back.
“I gave it [his recent] Minutes: 45 minutes, 41 minutes, 39 minutes, 38 minutes, with a really bad ankle and an elbow, “said Malone.” So this is not a rest game; This is: ‘This guy hits 18 games to go’. And what I love about Nikola, he said: ‘Demons no. Come on, man. Coach, I’m playing. That is not even a conversation. I’m tired? Of course, everyone is tired. Am I a little beaten? Of course, everyone is a little beaten. But I want to play. And I think part of that was also that we lost and he wanted to lead this team and find a way to come here and get a victory today. “
Malone called Jokić a “bright person” with a “bright mind” and “the best player in the world.” During Monday’s game, Malone said it was “incredible” to see Jokić in the Huddle team, holding a board, “talking with some of our boys about our zone defense.” Unlike Jokić himself, Malone is happy to defend that the 30 -year -old superstar should become the sixth player in NBA’s history to become an MVP four times.
“Obviously, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is a great player, and if he wins his first MVP, he deserves that,” Malone told journalists. “My thing is this: if you did not know that Nikola won three MVP and put the player A and player B on paper and you had no idea that the guy who averages a triple double, the guy that is among the best three in the three main statistical categories, the things that nobody has done, won the MVP 10 times of 10.
Malone then laughed. When asked if the team’s records took into account the player to vs. Player B (since the 53-12 Thunder is 11 games ahead of all the others at the West Conference), Malone said they could, but added: “If you want to use that letter, I am in favor, but the year that Nikola did not win it, we were sown number 1 in the west.”
In the stretch of the regular season, “this whole MVP issue is really going to collect,” Malone told journalists. He said that he understands that different people have different criteria for the prize, and that “it will never be negative to recruit” against Jokić’s competition.
“Shai is not a good player, [but] A great player, and if he won, in reality, I will know what, applaud and be happy for him, “said Malone.” Because he is such a good guy that he is a great player and is good for this game. Then it is not Nikola vs. Shai; For me, I’m promoting my boy because I know what it means to this game. And when you look at him from a historical perspective, he is doing things that nobody has done. AND [we’re] Also the seed number 2 in the west, so it is not as if we were outside looking, we are also a fairly good team. “
It is not just that both Jokić and Gilgeous-Alexander have gathered MVP caliber seasons; It is that both have produced at a level that compares favorably with most MVP campaigns. This is a closed race and, in the opinion of this voter, an even harder call than any of the previous ones involving Jokić. Gilgeous-Alxander, the favorite of bets with approximately one month that remains in the regular season, has averaged 32.7 points, 5.1 rebounds and 6.2 assists in 34.3 minutes per game, and has matched a rate of use of his career (33.4%) with a true percentage of shots (64.4%).
