Denver Nuggets star center Nikola Jokic was surprisingly named the NBA MVP for the 2023-24 season on Wednesday.
Jokic beat out the likes of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Luka Doncic, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jalen Brunson for the Association’s top individual award.
Jokic received 79 of the 100 first-place votes to win going away. This represents his third NBA MVP award of the past four seasons.
An argument can be made that Jokic deserved the award less than a calendar year after leading Denver to the NBA title.
- Nikola Jokic stats (2023-24): 26.4 PPG, 12.4 RPG, 9.0 APG, 58% shooting
This came on a Nuggets team that won 57 regular-season games. Sure, Jokic is deserving. But there are others who believe SGA should have come away with it.
Related: Nikola Jokic and the best NBA players of 2024
Shaquille O’Neal looks bad in telling Nikola Jokic he shouldn’t have won the NBA MVP
Ahead of the Indiana Pacers and New York Knicks playoff game on TNT Wednesday evening, the pre-game show had Jokic on. Shaq confronted the game’s best big by telling him Shai Gilgeous-Alexander should have won.
“You know I love you. You’re the best player in the league. I want to congratulate you. But I want you to hear it from me first, I thought that SGA should have been the MVP. That’s no disrespect to you,” Shaq told Jokic.
That’s not necessarily a good look from Shaq. He should have kept this conversation private. Jokic was celebrating a huge honor. Why rain on his parade in a public setting?
Reactions were aplenty on social media, too.