The hunt for this season’s Most Valuable Player might be a tight three-way race, but Michael Malone believes the gap is not entirely close.
Because in his own preferences and perspective, Nikola Jokic is the clear cut winner and the deserving one out of the three competing international giants.
As the Denver Nuggets officially punched their ticket to the playoffs following a 122-109 home dub over the Memphis Grizzlies, Malone hurled his own MVP endorsement for Nikola Jokic in the podium.
He thinks that the battle for this season’s best player isn’t even a competition, and the reigning MVP should easily nail a back-to-back crown.
“I know I’m very biased, I admit that wholeheartedly, the MVP isn’t even a competition,” Malone told reporters on Thursday (h/t team writer Joel Rush). I mean, there’s other great players … but what Nikola Jokic has done this year, with this team, with everything we’ve had to go through, is incredible.”
Tonight, Jokic not only spearheaded his team to the postseason for four-straight years, but he also entered a historical club wherein he stands alone as a member. The Serbian superstar just became the first player in NBA history to record at least 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 500 assists in a single season.
Jokic and the Nuggets are currently slated for the sixth seed of the barbaric Western Conference and still eyeing for a top five finish before the regular season ends. Even without Jamal Murray (ACL recovery) and Michael Porter Jr. (back), the hard carry of the 27-year-old big man and its solid significance to his MVP case can’t be turned down easily.
