Nikola Jokic. External source
Washington, May 11 (Prensa Latina) Serbian Nikola Jokic, center of the Denver Nuggets, today received his second consecutive award as Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the American National Basketball Association (NBA).
In a stable in his native Serbia, Jokic received the trophy resulting from the vote of 100 sports writers from the United States, who chose him ahead of Joel Embiid of Cameroon (Philadelphia 76ers) and Giannis Antetokounmpo of Greece (Milwaukee Bucks).
“When I’m old, fat and grumpy, I’ll tell my kids that I used to be really good at basketball,” the Balkan star told NBA on TNT.
Jokic is the 13th player to win the MVP in consecutive seasons, after Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Moses Malone, Stephen Curry, Tim Duncan, LeBron James, Steve Nash and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Since last Monday, the ESPN chain announced that Jokic was the winner again, after averaging 27.1 points, 13.8 rebounds, 7.9 assists, 1.47 steals and 0.85 blocks per game, with an effectiveness from the field of 58.3 percent of successes.
At 27 years old, the reigning MVP became the first player in NBA history to accumulate at least 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 500 assists in a season, and led the league in triple-doubles with 19.
The Nuggets finished the regular season with a 48-34 record, but were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the Golden State Warriors, despite the fact that their star averaged 35.7 points, 16.3 rebounds, 7.4 assists and 2.14 steals in his last seven games.
jha/cmv
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