Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic concluded Friday’s overtime game against the Suns with the league’s first-ever 30/20/20 game, scoring 31 points, 21 rebounds and 22 assists.
In some ways, the three-time MVP’s history-making stat line is almost unsurprising. The 30-year-old big man continues to be on the forefront of award discussions while putting up video-game level stat lines every night. On paper, he’s averaging career highs of 28.9 points and 10.6 assists while his 12.9 rebounds would be his second-best in a season. He’s doing this on an incredibly efficient .577/.439/.818 shooting split. His 43.9% three-point percentage and 4.4 attempts from deep per game are also both career highs.
And while Jokic’s stats might be unsurprising after three MVPs and six All-NBA appearances, it does not mean they should go overlooked. This kind of production is what fans hear about in history books and resembles something of an old Wilt Chamberlain stat line.
Being an MVP isn’t all about individual statistics, however. Being the league’s most valuable means helping lead a winning situations and making one’s teammates better. Jokic fulfills this criteria, helping the Nuggets overcome a relatively shaky start to the season. Denver won nine straight from late January to late February and 14 of its last 17 games.
Christian Braun is having a season worthy of the Most Improved Player award and Russell Westbrook is proving to be a nice fit, along with other contributions up and down the lineup from the Nuggets starters and role players. Jokic has good players around him but there’s zero doubt he’s helping set them up for success.
Despite Jokic’s historic achievements, he’s still trailing Thunder superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in NBA.com’s most recent MVP ladder. Entering Friday, Gilgeous-Alexander appeared to be the runaway favorite for the award.
Gilgeous-Alexander, by the way, is absolutely deserving of the praise. He’s averaging a league-leading and career-high 32.8 points along with 5.1 rebounds and 6.2 assists. His 1.8 steals are second to only Dyson Daniels this season and he’s connecting on an impressive .526/.378/.898 line. As we wrote Thursday, his efficiency is off the charts. His true-shooting and usage percentages are career highs, the former of which he ranks first in the league for guards in.
The Canadian superstar finished second in MVP voting last year and may very well come away with the award this year. He’s the NBA’s surest bet to score 50 points on a given night, doing so four times in the last seven weeks after having previously never accomplished the feat in his career.
Like Jokic, Gilgeous-Alexander accomplishes the two-pronged test of winning games and helping his teammates. The Thunder own the league’s second-best record at 52-11, sitting atop the Western Conference. Oklahoma City only dropped two games since the start of February, winning 15 of its previous 17 games.
What’s more, is that the Thunder are doing this in the face of multiple injuries to key players. Marquee free agent addition Isaiah Hartenstein missed over 20 games due to injury this season while star second-year center Chet Holmgren has been limited to just 18 appearances. Lockdown defender Alex Caruso, acquired via trade, has also missed over 20 games.
There’s no doubt multiple Thunder players like Jalen Williams, Cason Wallace and Aaron Wiggins, to name a few, deserve individual praise. But Gilgeous-Alexander’s presence and elite offensive production are certainly helping those players to shine as well.
Beyond the two hottest names in Jokic and Gilgeous-Alexander, it’s easy to forget other players are worthy of being thrown into the conversation as well. Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s 30.8 points and 12.1 rebounds should not be overlooked. Jayson Tatum, Karl-Anthony Towns and Evan Mobley are also putting up tremendous numbers on contending teams. All signs point to Jokic and Gilgeous-Alexander, at least, being the top two in voting.
As NBA.com’s Shaun Powell writes, the Nuggets and Thunder play each other for the final two times this regular season on Sunday afternoon and Monday evening in back-to-back games, with the results potentially swaying awards-voters. Premier matchups between the league’s best tend to go the most-noticed among fans, so it will be interesting to see if Jokic continues to close the perceived gap in the race. For what it’s worth, Basketball Reference’s 2024/25 NBA MVP tracker gives Jokic a 65.1% chance to win the award.
Regardless of what happens, it will be interesting to see if the clash between Jokic and Gilgeous-Alexander ends up as close as Jokic’s first MVP win over Joel Embiid in ’21/22, the closest race in recent memory. Both Jokic and Gilgeous-Alexander are worthy of the honor and are putting up seasons worth generational praise.
That leads us to today’s question: Who should win the ’24/25 MVP award? Head to the comments to weigh in on what appears to be a heated race or if you believe another player should come away with the award.
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