Kevin Durant Speaks On Nikola Jokic As MVP Frontrunner

Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic has taken home some impressive hardware over the last two seasons. He has won the MVP award both years in addition to earning a spot on the All-NBA First Team. This season, he is trending toward repeating that level of personal success.

To win an MVP once you have to accomplish something great. To win it a second time, in consecutive years, you need to take things to another level. But, to three-peat, you need to accomplish something truly special and thus far, Jokic is doing that.

Jokic is averaging a triple-double, scoring 24.8 points, 11.7 rebounds and 10 assists and 1.3 steals per game. He is shooting the ball efficiently, making 63.3 percent of his shots overall, 39.8 percent from 3-point range and 82.4 percent of his free throw attempts.

Winning the MVP three times in a row is a feat that only Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain and Larry Bird have achieved. Only eight players in NBA history have even won the award three or more times.

However, some people won’t vote for a player a third straight time because of voter fatigue. We have heard that referenced as part of the reason LeBron James didn’t win the award in years that he was deserving, but Jokic’s peers believe that he deserves this kind of recognition.

One of the players who recently spoke about it is Kevin Durant. Durant and his new team, the Phoenix Suns, are looking up at Jokic and the Nuggets in the standings, and he believes that is part of the reason Jokic is deserving of a third MVP award.

“Ain’t they No. 1 in the West?” Durant pointed out. “He’s playing like an MVP.” However, Durant said it’s a crowded field full of worthy candidates. “I feel like seven or eight dudes could get it, so it’s like, at this point, you could close your eyes and pick any one of these dudes and they become MVP,” Durant said. “It’s based off, really, who you like as a person. I think that plays a huge factor in it.”

There are certainly a number of players deserving of consideration for the MVP. Joel Embiid, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Luka Doncic and Jayson Tatum are a few names that pop up when people discuss the award.

But, when you are having the individual season that Jokic is having, and your team is succeeding at the level that the Nuggets are, it is hard to argue against him winning the MVP for a third time. If he finishes the season averaging a triple-double and the Nuggets hold onto the first spot in the Western Conference, the award is his to lose.