Nikola Jokić has officially won his third regular season Kia NBA Most Valuable Player Award. It's a remarkable accomplishment for a player whose career has thus far been entirely remarkable. He received 79 out of 99 first-place votes, 18 second-place votes, and 2 third-place votes for a total of 926 points.
Jokić led the Denver Nuggets to a top-two seed in the Western Conference for the second consecutive season. The Nuggets boasted the second-best home record and the best record against below-.500 teams in the NBA. Denver finished top-10 in offense (fifth) and defense (ninth) for the first time in the Jokić era.
To celebrate Nikola's major accomplishment, we'll be looking at his MVP season from three angles: the historical significance of a third MVP, the statistics behind his MVP year, and some highlights from Jokić's 2023-24 season.
The Historical Significance of MVP Number Three
Winning a third regular season MVP award puts Jokić in an exclusive class... a class comprised of all-timers from the NBA's 75th Anniversary team. Here's a full list of the nine players who have won three MVPs or more.
- Six MVPs: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
- Five MVPs: Michael Jordan and Bill Russell
- Four MVPs: LeBron James and Wilt Chamberlain
- Three MVPs: Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Moses Malone, and now, Nikola Jokić
Jokić has won the MVP award in three of his last four seasons: 2021, 2022, and now, 2024. The one year he didn't win the award—in 2023—he finished second place in voting to Joel Embiid. He's received at least one MVP vote for six years and counting.
That's three MVPs in nine seasons for Nikola. However, he wasn't even a full-time starter until 2017-18, his third season in the NBA. In the seasons he's been a full-time starter, he's won the MVP award three times in seven tries. It's been a truly dominant run.
Now, you might be wondering, why wasn't Nikola a starter until year three? Well, Jokić was selected 41st overall in the 2014 NBA Draft. He had to earn his spot.
He's the only second-rounder to ever get selected as an NBA MVP, and he's now done it three times. That's a crazy accomplishment. For context, only 38 second-round draft picks have even made an All-Star team since the NBA-ABA merger in 1976. You could make a strong case that, given where he was selected and the accomplishments he's racked up in his still-young NBA career, Nikola is the greatest draft pick in NBA history.
The Statistics of Jokić's MVP Season
Jokić commandeered a top-10 offense and defense for the first time in his career, but statistically speaking, there's a lot more to his prolific season.
Nikola finished fifth in total points, third in total rebounds, second in total assists, and eighth in total steals. He’s the only player in NBA history to be top-10 in all four categories in a single season.
Jokić was the only player in the league that averaged at least 25 points, 10 rebounds, and 9 assists. He's the sixth player to ever put up those numbers in a single season.
He led the entire league in on/off offensive efficiency at plus-18.9 points per 100 possessions. That's the best offensive efficiency of his career. He also finished first in total plus-minus at plus-682.
Jokić was first in VORP (Value Over Replacement Player), PER (Player Efficiency Rating), Win Shares, Offensive Win Shares, Box Plus/Minus, Offensive Box Plus/Minus, and Defensive Box Plus/Minus.
Every single Nuggets starter had a higher effective field goal percentage with Jokić on the floor compared to him off it.
Jokić recorded the second-most double-doubles in the league with 68 and the second-most triple-doubles with 25. He set the Nuggets' single-season franchise record for double-doubles in a season.
These are just a few of the utterly incredible numbers Jokić put up this season. Check out our article on his 2023-24 season, broken down by the numbers, if you want to learn more.
Shining Moments from Nikola's 2023-24 Regular Season
Let's timeline Nikola's MVP season, shall we?
In Denver's very first game, Ring Night at home, Jokić dropped 29 points, 13 rebounds, and 11 assists for his first triple-double of the season just hours after receiving his 2023 NBA championship ring. He helped defeat the Los Angeles Lakers, 119-107, in a rollicking Opening Night victory.
Jokić would then have a stretch from November 6th to November 14th where he dropped at least 30 points in four consecutive games. In two of those four showings, he recorded a triple-double. He became the 26th player ever to drop at least 35 points, 20 rebounds, and 10 assists in a game when he finished with 36 points, 21 rebounds, and 11 assists against the Houston Rockets on November 11th.
Now, things really got crazy at the turn of the new year when Jokić missed two total shots in three games from December 28th to January 1st. You could make a case that it was the single most efficient three-game run in modern NBA history. He had the highest field goal percentage (92.9 percent) with at least 25 total shots in a three-game span since the NBA-ABA merger.
That brings us to, by far, the highlight of Jokić's 2023-24 season. January 4th against the Golden State Warriors. A wonderful day in Nuggets history. Denver mounted an 18-point fourth quarter comeback to tie the ball game, and then Jokić did this...
Nikola was a force out of the All-Star break and recorded four consecutive triple-doubles after his sixth career All-Star selection. During that stretch, he became the first player to ever tally 32 points, 16 rebounds, 16 assists, and 4 steals in a game (February 25th against the Golden State Warriors). This would help his Nuggets win 15 of 17 games out of the break.
During that impressive stretch, Jokić and the Nuggets captured their second victory of the season against the Celtics on March 7th. Nikola recorded a triple-double with 32 points, 12 rebounds, and 11 assists, plus 2 steals. Two games later, he became the first player to ever drop 35 points, 17 rebounds, 12 assists, and 6 steals in a game (March 11th against the Toronto Raptors).
On March 31st against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Jokić dropped 26 points, 18 rebounds, and 16 assists. He became just the tenth player in NBA history to drop at least 25 points, 18 rebounds, and 15 assists in a game. In his next outing, Jokić tied his season-high of 42 points to go with 16 rebounds against the Sacramento Kings.
Here's a good one to end on. Jokić dropped 41 points, 11 rebounds, 7 assists, and 3 steals against the Minnesota Timberwolves on April 10th. This would help the Nuggets secure second place over the third-place Timberwolves at the end of the season. It was a monstrous performance in one of Denver's most important games of the year.
Nikola's third MVP is a special one. It's statistically historic, and it puts him in a very prestigious class of all-time greats.
What a treat it is to have Nikola Jokić in Denver.