Denver Nuggets: 4 reasons Nikola Jokic is the MVP

Why Denver Nuggets C Nikola Jokic deserves MVP:  Storyline (it matters)

As the 41st overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, Nikola Jokić wasn’t supposed to be this good. In fact, the Nuggets were starting Jusuf Nurkic at center, hoping he would grow into the full-time starter and in his first couple of seasons, Jokić shared his time between center and power forward.

He quickly grew into an edgy NBA League Pass owner’s favorite player with Zach Lowe constantly praising the Serbian.

From there, the Nuggets further empowered him, moving on from Nurkić in a trade with the Portland Trail Blazers back in 2017 to open up more opportunities for Jokić to grow and grow he did. This is all building on ‘Jokić Day’, the day Jokić officially became the Nuggets starting center and (hopefully) official public holiday in Colorado soon.

Since then, it has been strength-to-strength and the Nuggets past few seasons have included spots at second and third in the Western Conference and some deep playoff runs, some short playoff runs, and some harsh lessons on a final night of the season play-in with the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 2017-18 season.

Oh, and we got to experience skinny Jokić. Before the NBA Bubble, Jokić came into the training camp skinnier than his usual cuddly self and some people thought it would be a bad thing. Wow, hindsight is 20-20.

David Thorpe re-shared his excellent take on the topic in his most recent piece:

"“Some suggested losing weight would sap his essence. I say weighing more worked like a training exercise. Not being able to run fast or jump high absolutely led Jokic to innovate crafty moves. He had to develop incredible touch on his paint shots, because he just couldn’t run past or jump over defenders. He created special tools for himself to survive in a sport that favors the incredibly athletic. Now that he has all those tools and can move, he has played better than anyone in the NBA so far this season.”"

And here we are, a second-round pick who wasn’t even considered a backup center on his own team is now the best center in the league and about to become the best individual player while doing so.