Although it feels like the 2024-25 NBA regular season just started, it’s already almost a third of the way over. The days are flying by and so are the games. After hot and cool starts, water is starting to find its level and cream is rising to the top; we are starting to get a clear picture of the landscape of the league.
Sample sizes aren’t so small any longer and it’s safe to say that minus a fluke or two, we’re getting a good idea of where teams and players stand and who they are. With that, of course, comes awards discourse; specifically the MVP award.
But with this award, there have been no fluke contenders. The favorites from last season mostly started out strong and have led the conversation. Sure, Luka Doncic sputtered a bit out of the gate, Joel Embiid is already ineligible due to missed games, and guys we thought might break into the mix like Anthony Edwards, Victor Wembanyama, and Tyrese Haliburton still seem a ways away.
Nikola Jokic reigns supreme atop MVP ladder
NBA.com has picked up their weekly MVP ladder and at the top of the list is a familiar face from the Denver Nuggets, Nikola Jokic. The Joker won the award last season and he’s won it three of the past four years. The bar for him to win again is even higher, but so far, he’s been up to the challenge.
Jokic’s stats and play have been beyond absurd this season and he’s vastly outperformed even his own lofty standards. Despite his team’s lackluster start to the season, Jokic has been incredible and unless the Nuggets fall completely off a cliff or someone else steps up in a big way, this is looking like Jokic’s award to lose.
His gaudy stats (32.3 ppg, 13.6 rpg, 10.2 apg) speak for themselves, but the results of the eye test are somehow even more impressive. Jokic hasn’t just been one of the best players in the league this year, he’s playing like one of the best players of all time.
As Shaun Powell of NBA.com writes, “The pole position for this award belongs to him as we begin the home stretch to Christmas. That’s not up for debate.”
Familiar faces chasing the Joker
The guys chasing Jokic are not exactly surprising faces either. Two-time winner, Giannis Antetokounmpo currently sits at 2nd, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is 3rd, and Jayson Tatum is 4th on the ladder. Where things take a turn is at 5th where we see Karl-Anthony Towns, who is having an incredible year for the Knicks.
The man who many people thought would ultimately dethrone Jokic, Luka Doncic is currently 6th in the rankings. He got off to a slow start but he is heating up and the Mavericks are rising up the standings. We’ve still got a lot more basketball to play!