Feel free to debate over who the greatest basketball player is. Are you a Michael Jordan guy or a LeBron James stan? However, these days the quarrel du jour is over the NBA MVP: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander vs. Nikola Jokić. Two worthy candidates and a lot of hair-splitting over who deserves the award more.
There is one thing that is no longer an argument: Jokić is the most efficient basketball player who has ever lived.
That’s not an opinion. It’s a statistical fact. He owns the [highest career player efficiency rating of all time](http://This season, Jokić's PER not only leads the league. It's the second-best mark of his career. If advanced metrics aren't your thing, consider the following: he's on pace to average a triple-double for an entire season. Only two players (Oscar Robertson and Russell Westbrook) have done that previously. Neither one of those guys was a center. For Jokić to accomplish this as a big man is extraordinary. Also, this is not stat padding. The Joker has to post those numbers for his team to be competitive. The Nuggets aren't the dominant force they were when they won the 2022-23 NBA championship. Jokić is under pressure to deliver every night, and he usually does.). Better than Jordan. Better than James. This magician has three MVP awards, and it should be four straight because since 2020 he has been the best basketball player on the planet.
Voters are sometimes reluctant to keep giving the honor to the same guy. Call it voter fatigue. It happened when Jokić lost to Joel Embiid in the 2022-23 season. It could be the case again if SGA wins.
Gilgeous-Alexander is the best player on the league’s best team. For many, that’s enough. On Sunday, he scored 40 points in a 127-103 Oklahoma City Thunder victory over the Denver Nuggets. In Monday’s rematch, Jokić had 35 points, 18 rebounds, and eight assists to lead the victorious Nuggets. Gilgeous-Alexander as the MVP would be a fresh story that the league would love. However, we’ve taken Jokic’s excellence for granted.
“I will say that I think I’m playing the best basketball of my life, so if that’s enough, that’s enough,” Jokić said according to ESPN’s Tim MacMahon. “If not, the guy [Gilgeous-Alexander] deserves it. He’s really amazing.”
This season, Jokić’s PER not only leads the league. It’s the second-best mark of his career. If advanced metrics aren’t your thing, consider the following: he’s on pace to average a triple-double for an entire season. Only two players (Oscar Robertson and Russell Westbrook) have done that previously. Neither one of those guys was a center. In last week’s victory over the Phoenix Suns, Jokić became the first player in NBA history to 30-20-20 triple-double (31 points, 21 rebounds, and 22 assists).
For Jokić to accomplish this as a big man is extraordinary. Also, this is not stat-padding. The Joker has to post those numbers for his team to be competitive. The Nuggets (42-23) aren’t as deep as they were when they won the 2022-23 NBA championship. Jokić is under pressure to deliver every night, and he usually does.
As amazing as Jokić is, it seems like he has never been fully embraced by the American public. Part of that has to do with his reluctance to be a superstar. He can come across as indifferent in interviews. He would prefer for his game to speak for him. Still, Jokić should be more popular (In the first half of this season, he was 10th in jersey sales). Some might argue that it’s because he’s from a different country. But that doesn’t make sense considering how much Luka Dončić is beloved.
NBA players are the top athletes in sports. They do things that we can only dream of and their skill level keeps getting better. In a league of unicorns, Jokić is from another universe. He dominates with such ease. Jokić might not win the MVP this season. But nobody in the history of the game has played basketball more adeptly than him.
After Monday’s triumph, Nuggets coach Michael Malone had a lot to say about the MVP race.
“Obviously, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is a great player, and if he wins his first MVP, he’s deserving of that,” Malone said. “My thing is this: If you didn’t know that Nikola won three MVPs and I put Player A and Player B on paper and you had no idea that the guy who’s averaging a triple-double, the guy who’s top three in the three major statistical categories, things that no one’s ever done, he wins the MVP 10 times out of 10. And if you don’t think so, I think you guys are all full of sh**.”