Nikola Jokic Becomes First Nuggets Player To Ever Be Named MVP
The Denver Nuggets have been really good over the past few years and Nikola Jokić is a big reason why, and that's why he's been named NBA MVP this year.
According to the NBA, the big man from Serbia became the very first member of the Denver Nuggets to win the award and is one of the lowest draft picks to ever win the award.
Jokić was a second round pick (41st overall) back in 2014 and was the lowest draft pick to ever claim the MVP award with the exception of Moses Malone back in the day, who never even entered the draft. He's also in great company with Dirk Nowitzki (Germany) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece) as being the only players from Europe to win the award.
In his sixth NBA season, Jokić played all 72 games and averaged a career-high of 26.4 points, 10.9 rebounds, a career-high 8.4 assists and 1.32 steals in 34.8 minutes. Oh yeah: the man does it ALL on the court and doesn't miss much time.
Led by Jokić, the Nuggets rolled to a 47-25 record and earned the third seed in the Western Conference for the 2021 NBA Playoffs. The Nuggets finished with the fifth-highest single-season winning percentage in franchise history (.653).
As for the team's current status, it looks like Jokić is going to have to REALLY be in MVP form as the Nuggets were blown out in Game 1 of their best of 7 series against the #2 seeded Phoenix Suns.
Congratulations to Nikola and good luck the rest of the way...Go Nuggets!
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