Denver Nuggets superstar center Nikola Jokic can't become the first player in NBA history to win MVP honors in consecutive seasons -- it's happened more than a dozen times since 1956. But if the 6-foot-11, 284-pound stud does take home the prestigious accolade again this summer, he'll actually be one of the league's most unique recipients.
In the Nuggets' home win over the Memphis Grizzlies last week, Jokic scored a team-high 35 points with 16 rebounds, and became the first player in history to accumulate at least 2,000 points, 1,000 boards, and 500 assists in a single season. By all measures, Jokic's campaign was unicorn-esque -- he averaged 27.1 points, 13.8 boards, and 7.9 assists in 74 games. Based on FiveThirtyEight metrics, his season WAR was 22.7, and no other NBA player was above 13.2.
"Nikola Jokic, without Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. -- the second- and third-best players on the team -- carried them almost to the West's fifth seed," USA Today NBA writer Jeff Zillgitt told the Reiter Than You show on Thursday. "I always thought that Jokic was competing against himself this year for MVP. That he needed to have a better year than he did last year. And I thought that he did, given the circumstances. So, that's why I ended up [voting for] him."
Denver, which finished 48-34 and earned the West's sixth-seed, will begin its first-round playoff series against the Golden State Warriors on Saturday night (8:30 ET tip-off). According to FiveThirtyEight projections, the Nuggets have a 20-percent chance to reach the conference semifinals and just a 7-percent chance to make the West finals. Denver has never appeared in an NBA Finals.
The entire NBA conversation between Zillgitt and Reiter can be accessed in the audio player above.
You can follow the Reiter Than You show on Twitter @sportsreiter and @CBSSportsRadio, and Tom Hanslin @TomHanslin.