Just imagine being considered an all-time great in your chosen field at the age of just 29.
Nikola Jokić has already won the NBA’s regular season MVP award on three occasions, drawing him level with legends of basketball like Magic Johnson and Larry Bird.
But given his form in the early going of the 2024-25 campaign, there’s every chance that Jokić could add a fourth MVP title to his collection… ascending him into iconic status while still short of his thirtieth birthday.
Denver Dreaming
After their sluggish 0-2 start to the season, the Denver Nuggets were pushed out to +1400 in the basketball online betting odds.
They’ve since recovered to 7-3 (at the time of writing), but even so, most basketball predictions favor the likes of the Boston Celtics (+300) and New York Knicks (+900).
It’s all relevant because there are those who believe that the MVP award should be given to a player from a winning team; rather than handing it to the individual with the best statistical makeup to their name.
In his MVP winning seasons, Jokić and Denver reached the first round of the postseason once and the Conference semifinals twice, while the Most Valuable Player in 2022-23 – Joel Embiid – was also part of a Philadelphia 76ers team that reached the Eastern Conference semifinals.
And so the message is clear: to win the regular season MVP award, you need to be part of a side that reaches the postseason. All other indicators of success go out of the window.
History Maker
Even after all of the incredible feats he has achieved already in his career, the 29-year-old is still capable of reaching new heights.
On November 10, he posted yet another NBA first: this time, Jokić piled in 37 points, 18 rebounds, and 15 assists – the first time that anybody has gone reached such a combination in a game.
Whether he is the recipient of the award or not will ultimately depend upon Denver’s league position come the end of the regular season. The Nuggets are perhaps not the force they once were, with the loss of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope perhaps hitting the franchise harder than most expected.
So thank goodness for Jokić, who after 12 rounds of action leads the entire NBA in assists and rebounds per game, as well as sitting fourth place in the points-per-game standings.
At the time of writing, the only viable rival to the Serbian for the NBA’s best player prize is Giannis Antetokounmpo, but his Milwaukee Bucks are in dire straits in the Eastern Conference after a 2-8 start.
So Jokić will, surely, join LeBron James and Wilt Chamberlain on four MVP wins come the end of the season.
