Nikola Jokić was named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player for the 2023-24 season, claiming the award for the third time in four years and joining Michael Jordan and LeBron James as the only players since 1990 to win at least three MVP trophies.
A runaway race tipped by a mid-season injury
The vote was decisive. Jokić collected 79 first-place votes and 926 points from a panel of 99 media members. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished second with 15 first-place votes and 640 points, while Luka Dončić took third with four first-place votes and 566 points.
Earlier in the season Joel Embiid had been the favourite, but a torn meniscus removed him from contention. Once the path cleared, Jokić seized control of the race and never let it go.
A stat line without parallel in the league
Across 79 games he averaged 26.4 points, 12.4 rebounds and 9.0 assists while shooting 58.3 percent from the floor. Others posted gaudier numbers in each category, yet no other player ranked inside the top ten in all three — the quiet, systemic dominance that has come to define his career.
The Nuggets rode that consistency to a 57-25 record, second in the Western Conference on a tiebreaker. Jokić appeared on every ballot, with 18 second-place votes and two third-place votes.
A small circle and a memorial T-shirt
When the award was announced on 8 May 2024, Jokić appeared on television wearing a shirt honouring Dejan Milojević, the Golden State assistant coach and his mentor who had died from a heart attack months earlier. It was a gesture that underlined how tightly he holds his roots.
"It’s got to start with the teammates; without them, I cannot do nothing," he told reporters afterwards. "Coaches, players, organization, medical staff, strength coaches, development coaches. It is all one big circle."
Moving deeper into the record books
Jokić became the seventh player to win three MVPs in a four-year span, placing him alongside Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and LeBron James. With a 2023 Finals MVP already in his possession, only the very steepest segment of greatness still waits.
The centre from Sombor now sits among the nine men ever to hold three regular-season MVP awards. The quietest superstar in the game has built a legacy that no longer requires an amplifier.
