Michael Porter Jr. Hot Take Puts Nikola Jokic Over LeBron James and Michael Jordan in ‘GOAT’ Conversation

After the Joker won the 2020-21 and the 2021-22 regular season MVP awards, he was again in the running to win it a 3rd straight time in the 2022-23 season. Except, it went to Joel Embiid, who was neck-to-neck with the Serbian.

A similar situation panned out this past season as the league took its sweet time to award Shai Gilgeous-Alexander the MVP. Just that many felt it was not as impressive as Jokic’s triple-double season.

Voter fatigue and media narratives stopped Nikola Jokic from grabbing 5 straight MVP awards

Larry Bird was the last player to win 3 straight MVP awards. Michael Jordan came close, but he lost out to close friend Charles Barkley, who also had a terrific season.

He was incensed at the media voters as well as the league for not voting for him. At the time, the media and the league were known to shiver if His Airness criticized them, but still, they did not budge.

That is probably why Nikola Jokic, a generally soft-spoken European star who does not court controversy, did not speak up about it after posting arguably his best statistical season to date.

He did speak up once, but quickly understood that everyone was tilting towards handing last season’s award to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. In fact, the league was probably sweating when Jokic led his Denver Nuggets to tie their 2nd round series against OKC.

The league only announced the award after SGA led the deciding Game 7 with a terrific performance. It seems the league and the media needed proof before they could hand the Canadian the trophy.

Nikola Jokic and Serbia remain unbeaten at EuroBasket 2025

Nikola Jokic is currently busy leading his Serbian teammates at EuroBasket 2025. They are considered the favorites and have impressively won all their group games so far.

Just that their point differential places them second in Group A behind fellow powerhouse Turkey. Before they play the group leader, the Balkan countrymen will face off against group minnows, Czechia.

It should be an easy win, whereas Turkey will not have it easy when facing 4th place Estonia. Then, on September 3rd, Jokic will go into battle against Houston Rockets center Alperen Sengun to determine who heads into the knockout stages in top place.

The bracket seeding is important if Serbia is to continue on its journey and win this tournament. They have expressed interest in going for glory, and that is what led the Nuggets superstar to enthusiastically commit to this tournament.