We are halfway through the 2022-2023 NBA campaign and the Denver Nuggets currently sit at 1st seed with the reigning two-time MVP Nikola Jokic leading the way. In a Western Conference where the top seed seemed like it was someone new every day, the Nuggets have been holding on to the top spot for a few days now.
While the team is one of the deepest in the NBA, the key reason they are so successful this season is due to the excellent play of Jokic. The Joker has been doing it all this season with his averages of 25.3 points, 10.8 rebounds, and 9.5 assists per game. He’s also currently leading the NBA in triple-doubles.
In a season where Michael Porter Jr. has not played in a majority of his games this season and Jamal Murray has been trying to knock off the rust after returning from his torn ACL, Jokic has done everything he possibly can to keep the team in check and win games this season.
Nikola Jokic is proving the MVP Award should still go through him
Jokic has done everything he can to prove to people that he should win his third straight Most Valuable Player Award. While there have been players like Jayson Tatum, Kevin Durant, Luka Doncic, and others putting up MVP numbers, Jokic has been playing incredible basketball himself.
His best performance this season came on Christmas Day against the Phoenix Suns where he put up a 45-point, 15-rebound, and 15-assist game. While he has had many other great performances this season, that one was the pinnacle performance that showed people why he should win the award once again.
Coming into the season, people were not thinking about the Denver Nuggets as a contender in the Western Conference and were ready to write off the Jokic to win the award again, but he has topped his previous seasons and is showing everyone how dangerous he is when he has a healthy team with weapons all around him.
While his biggest competition in the race right now is Jayson Tatum, the two teams met on New Years’ and the Nuggets came away with the win. While Tatum put up great numbers in that game, Jokic put up a 30-point, 12-rebound,12-assist triple-double in the win.
People are quick to consider Jokic a player that did not deserve his last two MVP trophies, but he proves the doubters wrong over and over again and shows them why he is the best center in the NBA and why his previous MVP trophies were no mistake. Let’s take a look at Jokic vs some of the top candidates for the trophy.
Nikola Jokic’s MVP case over Jayson Tatum
Coming into the season, Jayson Tatum and the Celtics were on a mission following their loss in the NBA Finals to the Warriors. While Tatum averages more points per game this season with 30.1 ppg compared to Jokic’s 25.3, Jokic outperforms Tatum in other categories and outperformed him in their previous encounter against one another.
The Celtics have the advantage of having a better record than the Nuggets this season, but their records are fairly close overall. Also, it looks like the Celtics are beginning to lose winnable games while the Nuggets are getting hot at the right time and are right behind them to have the best record in the NBA.
If the season ended today Jokic would have the advantage over Tatum to win the MVP award, and if he continues to play as he is right now, it will be hard to see Tatum catching up to him in the race.
Nikola Jokic’s MVP case over Luka Doncic
Two of the best players in the Western Conference are Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic. The two are very similar and are both stars that their respective franchises drafted from the EuroLeague.
Luka Doncic is having one of the best individual seasons the NBA has seen in years, and he is doing this with one of the weaker supporting casts around a superstar in the NBA this season. It is similar to the season Jokic had last year.
Luka could be considered the biggest competition to take the crown from Nikola Jokic, but one of the biggest problems that he has is that it is hard to know where the Mavericks will be once the season is near a close.
We know that the Nuggets will be in the playoffs and have one of the higher seeds in the West, but the same could not be said for Luka and the Mavs. While he is incredible and is a top-five player in the NBA, he is on a team that would be considered one of the worst in the league if he wasn’t there.
We know that he could do incredible things, but his team holds him back from being a surefire MVP this season.
Nikola Jokic’s case over Kevin Durant for MVP
No one would have expected Kevin Durant and the Brooklyn Nets to be in the position they are in right now after the crazy offseason they had, but they are the hottest team in the NBA right now. The biggest reason is the excellent play from KD.
Durant averages 30 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 5.4 assists per game. He’s shown us how well he is able to pass the ball, and he is scoring the ball well this season to go with it. He has shown leadership at a time when that was his biggest question mark and flaw as a player. Those thoughts of him being a bad teammate have gone away as his team is on a roll and winning games on a nightly basis.
He has a great case to win his second MVP award, but Jokic is not ready to give up the award that easily. The teams may have similar records right now and both men are having major impacts on their teams, but one of the biggest reasons Jokic deserves the award over Durant is that while Durant is the biggest reason why the team is on a roll, he still has a star in Kyrie Irving that is better than any player on the Nuggets that is not named Nikola Jokic.
Jokic has the same record while not having a star like Irving on his roster and currently has better stats than KD besides his points per game.
The two teams face off against each other on March 12th and 19th and both men will be in the spotlight to see who will outplay the other in the MVP race. Those games will show who has a better chance of winning MVP, but as of right now, Jokic has a minor lead ahead of him in the MVP race.