Denver’s Nikola Jokic Favored To Win His 3rd Straight NBA MVP Award

Denver’s Nikola Jokic is favored to become the first man since Larry Bird in the mid-1980s to win three straight NBA MVP awards, according to bookmaker.eu

The full odds look like this:

Jokic 2/7

Joel Embiid 5/1

Giannis Antetokounmpo 9/1

Jayson Tatum 16/1

Luka Doncic 17/1

Ja Morant 50/1

Steph Curry 150/1

Kevin Durant 150/1

LeBron James 150/1

Several NBA sources said they like Jokic to win the award.

“For sure,” said one NBA Director of Scouting. “He has a brilliant basketball IQ.”

One NBA executive added that Jokic had his vote because of “his skill set, his team is winning and no one has played better.”

The 6-foot-11, 27-year-old big man from Serbia is averaging at triple-double at 24.7 points, 11.5 rebounds and 10.1 assists while shooting better than 63% from the field for the West-leading Nuggets (41-18). The Nuggets are 25-0 in the last 25 games in which he’s notched a triple double.

In a ESPN Straw Poll, Jokic was the runaway leader for the award, registering 77 out of 100 first-place votes and finishing with 913 total points, putting him in prime position to make history at season’s end.

The only other men to win three straight MVPs were Wilt Chamberlain (1966-68) and Bill Russell (1961-63).

Last year, Jokic became the 13th player to win the award in consecutive seasons, joining Chamberlain, Russell, Bird, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Antetokounmpo, Stephen Curry, Tim Duncan, LeBron James, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Moses Malone and Steve Nash.

He can now do something nine of those men never did, including Johnson, Jordan and James.