Monday was another night filled with buzzing for Nikola Jokic.
In their victory against the Charlotte Hornets, the Denver Nuggets’ All-Star center achieved an impressive 19th triple-double of the season. Within a span of 35 days, he contributed 26 points, secured 19 rebounds, and provided 11 assists, helping the Nuggets secure a 113-109 win.
This year, the group members recorded six additional triple-doubles compared to any other individual.
Furthermore, this marked Jokic’s 76th triple-double throughout his career, placing him seventh on the all-time list. Notably, he is only two triple-doubles behind Wilt Chamberlain, the record-holder for most triple-doubles achieved by centers.
Chamberlain participated in a total of 1,045 games within a span of 15 months, which is significantly more compared to Jokic’s 522 regular-season games played over seven months.
Monday’s performance set the stage perfectly for Tuesday’s big news on the NBA Most Valuable Player front, specifically concerning Jokic.
NBA bettors and online sportsbooks in Colorado have definitely been paying attention.
Jokic surges into the guide in the ESPN MVP straw poll.
ESPN released its third and final NBA MVP straw poll update on Tuesday, signaling the two-week mark left in the regular season. This informal poll, consisting of 100 national/worldwide media members, closely resembles the official postseason awards voting conducted by the league.
To cut to the chase, Jokic is currently leading.
In the early December straw poll for the 2021-2022 season, the reigning MVP placed fourth. Joel Embiid, the talented center from the Philadelphia 76ers, secured the second and third spots in the February edition, version 2.0, accumulating 35 points and earning two first-place votes.
As the start of the playoffs in mid-April approaches, Jokic has now taken over Embiid.
The Serbian player, standing at a towering height of 6 foot 11, accumulated a total of 860 votes in the previous count, with 719 of those being part of the recent tally. In a notable distinction, Jokic secured 62 out of the 100 first-place positions, while Embiid claimed the top spot on 29 ballots. Giannis Antetokounmpo, a power forward for the Milwaukee Bucks, clinched the remaining nine votes.
All of the 100 ballots, each featuring a selection of the top five players, exclusively named Jokic, Embiid, and Antetokounmpo. Together, these three players garnered a remarkable total of 291 out of the available 300 seats across the first, second, and third place rankings.
First place received ten points, second place received seven points, third place received five points, fourth place received three points, and fifth place received one point.
The straw poll gains significance due to ESPN & ‘s exceptional performance, earning the MVP title in all four seasons. This also holds true for Jokic’s previous year achievement and the consecutive MVP wins by Antetokounmpo in 2019 and 2020.
Casinos list Jokic as the MVP favorite and follow suit.
Just a mere week ago, Embiid held the title of BetMGM Colorado Sportsbook’s undeniable MVP favorite.
At -155, the Philadelphia 76ers’ Big Man dominated the rankings, securing 19.7% of MVP ticket votes and 33.3% of handle bets.
Jokic secured the second position with a +155 score, capturing 14.6% of the total bets and 15.5% of the overall votes.
Antetokounmpo was in a faraway third place at -1000.
Antetokounmpo and Embiid have both achieved a score of +100 after eight days and one straw poll upgrade. The score of continues to be -1000.
As of Wednesday morning, Jokic emerged as the frontrunner for the BetMGM MVP title, boasting favorable odds.
Jokic emerged as a stronger front-runner for the MVP title at Caesars Colorado Sportsbook, holding a substantial lead at -140, while Embiid’s chances slightly decreased to +110.
On Wednesday, the same narrative continued at PlayinСolorado — one of the remaining top three online sportsbooks.
Jokic topped the MVP futures board at BetRivers Colorado Sportsbook with odds of -134, while Embiid trailed closely behind at +110.
At the DraftKings Colorado Sportsbook, Jokic’s odds had shifted to -125 while Emiid’s odds were at -105.
As of Wednesday morning at Betfred Colorado Sportsbook, Jokic was listed at -125, while Embiid had odds of +110.
Important statistics for Jokic & , s court
Why do some people view Jokic as a consistently popular MVP candidate?
He is favored by the odds, particularly due to the sophisticated measures in place.
As per standard statistical analysis, Jokic held the 10th position in scoring, averaging 26.3 points per game. He ranked second in rebounding with 13.6 rebounds and secured the eighth spot in assists with 8.0%. These rankings were valid until Tuesday night’s game.
In terms of scoring, Embiid secured the second spot with 29.9 points, while he ranked seventh in rebounding with 11.4 rebounds and 50th in assists with 4.2 assists.
Jokic ranked seventh out of the top 10 players in field goal percentage with a remarkable 57.6%, while Embiid secured the ninth spot with an impressive 1.5 blocked shots.
Jokic achieved 19 triple-doubles and 61 double-doubles, while Embiid recorded 39 double-doubles and just two triple-doubles for the season.
Jokic truly excels in the sophisticated measurement rankings.
According to statistics from BasketballReference.com, Jokic currently holds the highest player efficiency rating in the league, standing at an impressive 32.68. Following closely behind is Antetokounmpo, securing the second spot with a rating of 32.24, while Embiid takes the third position with a rating of 31.14.
Jokic’s PER of 32.68 is not only higher than his league-leading rating of 31.28 from the previous season, but it also stands as the highest single-season average across all 71 seasons tracked by the website.
With a career PER of 27.00, Jokic ranks third, following the exceptional performances of Michael Jordan (27.91) and LeBron James (22.75).
Jokic continues to dominate the league in Basketball Reference’s box score plus/minus ratings, leading for the second consecutive season with an impressive 13.83. This exceptional performance also sets a new record for the highest single-season mark in history.
Antetokounmpo leads the pack this year with an 11.24 BPM, closely followed by Embiid at 9.46.
Jokic ranks second in job BPM with a score of 8.86, while Jordan takes the lead with a score of 9.21.
NBA MVPs from back to back are a select team.
Since the 1955-56 season, the NBA has consistently presented an annual regular season MVP award.
The total count of MVP awards now stands at 66.
In the history of the MVP awards, there have been only 14 instances where a player has won back-to-back titles. Among the twelve athletes who achieved this feat, LeBron James accomplished it twice (in 2009-10 and 2012-13), while the legendary Kareem Abdul Jabbar, a Hall of Fame center, did it in 1971-72 and 1976-77.
In the last decade, the occurrence of it happening three times involved James, alongside Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (2015-16) and Antetokounmpo (2019-20), repetitively achieving this feat.
Jokic is on the verge of colliding with that esteemed team.
If this happens, he will become the fifth center to receive consecutive offers from the Houston Rockets and the Philadelphia 76ers since Moses Malone accomplished the feat in the years 1982-1983.
