Let’s put a smile on that face.
Steph Curry may have had the shot, but not this. Joel Embiid came close, but injuries in Philly may have kept him from cracking MVP like he did the Liberty Bell with wrestler Triple H.
This years Most Valuable Player in the NBA is the Denver Nuggets big-man Nikola Jokić. The former 41st pick in the 2014 draft from Serbia and now the lowest ever selected draft pick to become the leagues best player for the season. Did people forget that was a hoops hotbed like Boban and Bogdan? Another legendary Serbian big like Vlade Divac.
Photos of Nikola as a chubby kid went viral. They talked about the conditioning of a man who used to drink a gallon of Coke a day. But they used to talk about Shaq’s too. Today Jokić became the first center since the Most Dominant Ever in 2000 to win the MVP. The first Most Valuable to play EVERY game of the season since Kobe in 2007-2008.
He was drafted during a damn Taco Bell commercial, now this Tuesday he’s eating like LeBron on this tortilla day…and that’s a wrap.
Who’s laughing now?
The clown prince of hardwood crime.
With career bests of 26.4 points and 8.3 assists per game and a career tying 10.8 rebounds, how could you front on this frontcourt force that’s Kevin Love meets an in prime Marc Gasol in the paint? Add percentages of 56.6% from the field, 38.8% from downtown Denver and 86.8% from the charity stripe to that list and if you still think this guys MVP status is laughable…
…the jokes on you.
To think he did all of this without Jamal Murray too.
Now mining more with the Nuggets, Jokić joins Hakeem Olaujawon, Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki, our boy Steve Nash and the winner of the last two, Giannis Antetokounmpo to become part of a special, select few international players to become the Most Valuable Player for their NBA franchises. The third European MVP in history.
The Joker is a game changer.
Even down one game to the scorching Suns this big one can still get it done. Book it. It’s a seven game series and this is the MVP now that we’re talking about.
“To be honest, I didn’t even think about being in the NBA,” Nikola told TNT after being surprised by commissioner Adam Silver via video call in the Nuggets Phoenix hotel. “My goal when I started to play basketball back home was to play in the EuroLeague because that was the closest top league to my country. I could play in some big clubs in Serbia and grind my way up. But then the Denver Nuggets drafted me, and it was an opportunity for me to become an NBA player.”
Surely, this will be the Mile High City air of inspiration that will help Denver’s leader stone cut his way to Game 2 in Arizona.
“It’s not just me. I couldn’t do it by myself. It’s something that it is an individual award but it’s the effort of everybody who is part of the Denver Nuggets organization.”
The runaway winner the award, receiving 91 of 101 first-place votes (New York Knick Derrick Rose received one…the fans vote), knows all about how the team itself is the valuable thing on the floor, bar none.
After all isn’t that the most you could ask of a player?
