Two days after reports of the voting results, Wednesday brought the official release: Nikola Jokic is the NBA MVP for the second straight season.
The Nuggets‘ big man was officially announced as the winner of the league’s top individual award. He is the fourth back-to-back MVP in the past 11 seasons, joining LeBron James (2012 and ’13), Stephen Curry (’15 and ’16) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (’19 and ’20). Jokic is the 13th player in league history to win the award in consecutive seasons.
Jokic received 65 out of 100 first-place votes. Philadelphia center Joel Embiid finished in second, getting 26 first-place votes, while Antetokounmpo came in third with nine first-place votes. Suns guard Devin Booker and Mavericks guard Luka Doncic finished in fourth and fifth, respectively.
Jokic’s 2021-22 season was historic, as he averaged career highs in points (27.1) and rebounds (13.8) per game. His 7.9 assists per game were also good for eighth in the NBA.
In addition to posting some of the best numbers of his career this season, Jokic now also stands alone with his counting stats in three major categories. He is the first player in the history of the NBA to record 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 500 assists in a season.
