Nikola Jokić won his second consecutive NBA Most Valuable Player award on 11 May 2022. The Denver Nuggets centre collected 65 first-place votes and 875 points from the media panel, finishing clear of Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid and Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo.
A cart, a stable and the telephone call
The announcement reached the Serbian at his family’s horse stable in Sombor. He was riding in behind a horse on a two-wheeled cart when Nuggets coach Michael Malone and president Tim Connelly appeared on camera to embrace him.
“It was a real emotional moment for me,” Jokić told the TNT broadcast from the stable. The image of the 41st overall pick from 2014 — whose draft selection scrolled beneath a Taco Bell commercial — learning of his second MVP among hay bales and halters became an instant part of league lore.
A season built alone, without two max teammates
The 27-year-old delivered the award on a Nuggets roster stripped of Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. for most of the campaign. He averaged 27.1 points, 13.8 rebounds and 7.9 assists, driving Denver to 48 wins.
He also became the first player in NBA history to surpass 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 500 assists in a single season. The voting reflected a global shift: with Embiid second and Antetokounmpo third, the top three finishers were all international players for the first time ever.
The thirteenth name on a rare list
Jokić joined a club of just 13 players to win back-to-back MVP honours, a roll call that includes Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, LeBron James and Stephen Curry. The award also stretched an international streak to four consecutive seasons.
Nuggets coach Michael Malone framed the consistency. “He’s consistently proven people wrong when they doubt him and he’s consistently the best player on the floor night in and night out,” Malone said.
“If it’s not me, who is it?” Jokić mused that evening, still half-incredulous that a path from a Sombor stable led to two MVP trophies. The horse cart seemed to suit him just fine.
