When Nikola Jokic won his first MVP in 2020-21 NBA season, he averaged 26.4 points, 10.8 rebounds and 8.3 assists per game on 56.6% shooting from the field. He even led the Denver Nuggets to the third seed in the Western Conference, despite Jamal Murray’s season being cut short after just 48 games.
The MVP race itself wasn’t close either. Jokic dominated the voting, receiving 91 out of the 101 first-place votes. Joel Embiid only got 1 first-place vote, and Stephen Curry received 5 votes.
Now, many fans and analysts agreed that Jokic was a clear MVP-caliber player who deserved the award. However, former Washington Wizards star Gilbert Arenas recently made a surprising statement.
Despite Jokic’s impressive stats, Arenas questions why he won MVP when the Nuggets finished with a 47-25 record. While that was good enough for the third seed in the West and the fifth-best record in the league, Arenas seems to believe it wasn’t strong enough to warrant MVP honors, going as far as calling Jokic the worst MVP winner in the last 40 years.
“I do understand when they say this about Jokic. Jokic is probably, statistically, when it comes to the overall game, the worst MVP winner in the last 40 years… When Jokic in 2021, Jokic’s team was fifth; he averaged 26, 8, and 10; what was the historic part of that? A big man, almost, not did, almost won the triple-double, and they gave it to him when his team record was like that. When you talk about historic, Jokic fifth and tenth (seed).”
“He is the worst MVP winner in the last 40 years.”
– Gilbert Arenas on Nikola Jokic
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) April 4, 2024
