For the first time since Magic Johnson (1989, 1990) and Michael Jordan (1991, 1992) did it 30 years ago, we will have back-to-back back-to-back NBA MVP winners.
After Giannis Antetokounmpo earned the 2019 and 2020 MVP awards, Nikola Jokic has followed suit by winning the 2021 and now 2022 awards, per a report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, with an announcement coming officially later this week on a TNT broadcast.
Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic has been voted the NBA’s Most Valuable Player for a second consecutive season, sources tell ESPN. A formal announcement is expected this week.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 9, 2022
Jokic averaged 27.1 points, 13.8 rebounds, and 7.9 assists per game (on 58.3/33.7/81.0 shooting splits) to lead the Nuggets to the 6-seed in the West this season, before being dispatched by the Warriors in five games in the first round. Jokic managing that level of production and efficiency despite Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. being sidelined for the entire year was one of the selling points for his MVP candidacy, as the Nuggets were a dreadful team almost any time he took a brief rest on the bench.
Jokic joins Giannis, Stephen Curry, LeBron James, Steve Nash, Tim Duncan, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Moses Malone, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, and Bill Russell as players to have won back-to-back MVP awards — only Bird, Chamberlain, and Russell have gone back-to-back-to-back.
Joel Embiid and Giannis Antetokounmpo will finish second and third in MVP voting, both putting forth monster seasons in the East that were worthy of consideration, but ended up just shy of Jokic for the regular season’s top individual honor.