Nuggets' Nikola Jokic receives 57% of first place votes in ESPN MVP Straw Poll
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Yes, it’s still early in the 2024-25 NBA season, but apparently not too early to begin talking about the MVP race, and with that conversation starting, it’s worth noting that Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic is on the precipice of history. With an MVP win this season, Jokic would become the sixth player ever to win four or more MVP awards, and just the third to win four in a five year span, joining Bill Russell and LeBron James in that illustrious category.
And from the sounds of it, that’s the direction that we’re heading in.
On a recent episode of The Hoop Collective Podcast, Tim Bontemps stated that Jokic led all players in ESPN’s first NBA MVP Straw Poll of the year with 57 1st-place votes. He appeared on all 100 ballots that were cast and has been a top-two vote getter in the last seven MVP Straw Polls.
It shouldn’t come as a huge surprise that the Nuggets’ star center is considered the MVP front-runner. Right now, Jokic ranks 2nd in points per game (31.0), 3rd in rebounds (13.0), and 2nd in assists (9.8). The only player in NBA history to finish in the top five in points, rebounds and assists per game in the same season was Wilt Chamberlain, who did it in back to back years in 1967 and 1968.
The standard numbers alone paint a picture where The Joker is clearly one of the most impactful players in the NBA, but dig a little deeper and you’ll find that he’s truly in rarefied air.
Jokic is shooting 56 percent from the field, 50 percent from three-point range and 80 percent from the free throw line. If that holds, he’d be the only player ever to average at least 15 points per game with at least 55-50-80 shooting splits. Jokic also leads the league in Vorps and Shmorps — shout-out to the GOAT Zach Lowe — and PER with a 31.9, which is the fifth-highest mark in league history.
But perhaps most importantly, the eye test leaves no doubt that Nikola Jokic is the best basketball player alive who controls more of the game on any given night than anyone else in the league
Can Nikola Jokic hold off the rest of the field in the race for the MVP?
Per Bontemps, Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was second in the initial Straw Poll after a 2023-24 season in which he finished 2nd in the MVP vote behind Jokic. SGA’s numbers are right on par with where he was at last year — 30 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists per game — and he’s the go-to-guy on the team with the 2nd-best record in the NBA, which is generally enough to land you in the MVP conversation.
Two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo was 3rd in the Straw Poll, likely in large part due to a dominant run through the NBA Cup. Giannis is averaging a career-high and league-best 32.7 points per game for a Bucks squad that is playing their best basketball right now.
Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum and Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic round out the top five less than six months after squaring off in the 2024 NBA Finals.
In total, fourteen players received a top five vote — Jokic, SGA, Giannis, Tatum, Luka, Donovan Mitchell, Karl-Anthony Towns, Kevin Durant, Jalen Brunson, Stephen Curry, Anthony Davis, Victor Wembanyama, Anthony Edwards and Ja Morant.
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