Now that the NBA Playoffs Bracket is underway, the league has been handing out individual awards based on voting that was done. The biggest award of all is the NBA MVP race 2024, and it went to a man who has already won the award twice.
Denver Nuggets center, Nikola Jokic, was named the winner of NBA MVP race 2024, his third such award in the last four seasons. Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers won it a year ago, but Jokic has taken home the award the other three times.
There have been some close calls in recent years, but that wasn’t the case with the voters. Jokic had 79 first-place votes and finished with 926 total points. Jokic could have won the award last year, making it one of the most dominant four-year stretches in NBA history.
He becomes just the ninth player in NBA history to win at least three MVP Awards, and the first center since 1976-77 to win it three times in four years. Jokic is now just one win away from tying LeBron James, and just three behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the most all-time.
Not only is Jokic a threat to record a triple-double, but he is also incredibly resilient. He appeared in 79 games for the Nuggets during the 2023-24 NBA season, his most since playing in 80 games just a few years ago.
For the year, Jokic averaged 26.4 points, 12.4 rebounds, and nine assists, and he had 25 triple-doubles throughout the year. He led the NBA player stats with a plus-682 when he was on the floor, and his Nuggets really struggled when he wasn’t playing.
Denver did not have the best record in the Western Conference, but Jokic helped his team get the number two seed.
Others in the Mix
Choosing the NBA MVP is always a tough decision for voters as this league is absolutely loaded with great players. That was the case again this year as a number of different players were in the mix to come away with the award.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder was in the mix all season and he had the second-most first-place votes with 15. SGA finished with 640 total points, which fell well short of Jokic and his massive total.
Luka Doncic was third on the list with 566 points after having the best season of his NBA career. Doncic only got four first place votes though, and he was never a serious threat to take this title from Jokic.
Giannis Antetokounmpo was the only other player to receive a first place vote, but he finished with just 192 total points. A number of players were ineligible to win the award based on lack of games played.
The Future is Here
While the race to the MVP Award didn’t end up being that close, it was much closer than what took place in the Rookie of the Year Award race. San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama became the first unanimous winner of that award since 2016.
Wembanyama was the number 1 overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft by the San Antonio Spurs, and he made an immediate impact on the league. He averaged 21.4 points and 10.6 rebounds per game during the regular season, and he was also one of the best defensive players in the league.
It’s very rare that players are able to live up to the hype right away in the NBA, but Wembanyama was able to do that every time that he took the floor. Wembanyama is now just the 6th rookie to every win this award unanimously, and he will now be fighting for other awards next season and beyond with the San Antonio Spurs.