Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic has won the league’s top award.
Jokic beat out Stephen Curry and Joel Embiid to take home the 2020-21 MVP award.
Jokic averaged 26.4 points and 10.8 rebounds per game this season, both career-highs, while leading the Nuggets to the third seed in the Western Conference playoffs.
The 26-year-old is wrapping up his sixth season with Denver, which selected him with the No. 41 overall pick in 2014. Jokic is now the lowest draft pick in NBA history to take home that award, and the only player in Nuggets history to win the MVP award.
Jokic played in all 72 games for Denver this season, too, making him the first MVP to play in every single game since Kobe Bryant won in 2008.
Jokic was one of three finalists named for the award, alongside Curry and Embiid. Curry won the league scoring title this season while averaging 32 points per game and averaging a career-high 5.3 made 3-pointers per contest with the Golden State Warriors. Embiid put up a career-best 28.5 points and 10.6 rebounds with the Philadelphia 76ers.
Embiid came in second in the voting, and Curry came in third. Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo — who is coming off back-to-back MVP wins — came in fourth, and Suns guard Chris Paul rounded out the top five.
