He had would have had a good chance. People often like to revisit the 2021 mvp through a different lens. Even though it was Jokic’s “weakest” season in the past 3 years he won the voting in a landslide due to his durability.
this post was submitted on 28 Nov 2023
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No because he was on teams with multiple other stars
Maybe last year, but man, Jokic has spent the last three years making an argument that he's the best offensive player in league history.
And, I mean, you want to talk about how insane KD's efficiency was last year? It was INSANE. .677, are you kidding me?*
But Jokic's was .701.
(*when a player has their most half-a-season by far, one has to consider the possibility that it's just a fluke and he wouldn't have kept it up if he had played the whole year. Of course, the first place I would have expected regression was in his 3pt%, which is almost as insane this year ... so maybe he could have kept it going!)
So while it's certain that KD would have been in the discussion last year, I don't think it's at all clear he would have won it. And the prior two season are a bit more of a stretch, although, again, I would have expected top-five finishes if he kept that up, and, honestly, at that point, who can really say? He's certainly in the discussion.
Better players exist
For me, the biggest obstacle would be that he wasn’t the most valuable player. Sure, there was voter fatigue for Jokic last season, but Embiid was still clearly top-2.
No. Jokic has been on a tear and voters love narratives so they’re always going to award the guy with less help.
KD had the narrative going for him in the past two years as well before the injury he had in January each year
Kyrie was missing every game for over half the year 2 years ago because of covid while Harden was playing bad and then got traded to the Sixers. Last year Kyrie also missed a bunch of games with the suspension from the Nets, and Simmons who was the main piece they got in the Harden trade was also hurt missing tons of games and even when he did play he was useless. Despite that both years they had a great record by January and were a top-3 seed before KD got hurt and they dropped a bunch of seeding
But Wb last year?
He could have, that doesn't mean he would have, or that the same can't be said of other people.
If Anthony Davis could stay truly healthy for 70 games, he could have won any of those years too.
KD does what he does. he’s always been ruthlessly efficient, and it’s impressive to see how he adapts his game to his advancing age.
problem is, other players do more. Embiid is a wrecking ball scorer and defensive anchor and Jokic is the best offense ever.
Lets be real, he isnt getting past jokic
Hell nah