Nikola Jokic is one step closer to winning his third MVP award in a four-season stretch. Victor Wembanyama is surely on his way to a trophy, maybe two. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander might get a couple of his own as well.
The NBA revealed the finalists for most of the league’s postseason awards Sunday — and to no surprise, Denver Nuggets star Jokic was one of the three top vote recipients for the top individual honor, the Michael Jordan Trophy that gets presented to the league’s regular-season MVP.
The others: Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks and the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Gilgeous-Alexander, who was a prep standout for Chattanooga’s Hamilton Heights Christian Academy before playing one college season at Kentucky and then becoming the No. 11 pick of the 2018 draft.
Last season’s MVP, Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers, was not eligible this year because of the new league rule that requires players to appear in a certain number of games to be eligible for awards consideration.
If he wins, Jokic would become the ninth player with three or more MVPs, joining Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (six), Jordan and Bill Russell (five each), Wilt Chamberlain and LeBron James (four each), and Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Moses Malone (three each).