The NBA MVP award is the biggest achievement any basketball player can get aside from winning a championship. And winning it is as much of a blessing as it is a curse. Because once you have even one MVP award on your resume, you are SUPPOSED to lead your team to an NBA championship. Charles Barkley, Allen Iverson, and even Russell Westbrook know what that’s like. And the media will have you believe that the race for the Michael Jordan trophy this year is a race involving only two players. But that’s only what they want you to think. You have been lied to because the trophy often doesn’t go to the most valuable player. But it does go to the most popular players. So if you actually care who the REAL MVP is, here are the 4 players who have proven themselves to be legit MVP candidates. And the journey they have traveled to become the best in the game.

To qualify for this list you have to meet 3 criteria. The first is to compete for an NBA playoff team. I’m talking top 6 seeds with 50 wins or more at worst. Not to be confused with an NBA play-in team because let’s be honest, you can’t be that valuable if you can’t help your team book a first class ticket to the NBA playoffs first round. Secondly you have to play at least 60 games in the regular season. Because no professional job in America would ever consider you to be that valuable if you don’t show up to work 75% of the time. And lastly you have to rate in the top 15 for Player Efficiency Rating. Because Jordan and LeBron have led the league in that stat more than anyone else in the modern era. If it’s good enough for them then it’s good enough for me. So here we go.

 Nikola Jokic’s case for MVP

Nikola Jokic was a second round draft pick from Serbia.  Which means that every NBA team technically had a chance to draft him, some for next to nothing. But now he is at the top of the MVP list for good reason. He is the best player on the best team in the Western Conference. And if you are honest, you can’t hardly name half of the players on the Nuggets roster, and if you can I bet you have an NBA League Pass subscription. In fact the only other player on their roster who has been an NBA All Star, ever was Deandre Jordan. And he played 15 minutes per game this season, and less than half the games. Jokic has the Nuggets locked in as the number 1 seed, and defenders have every excuse to lock in on him when they play against Denver. So here's his case for the MVP, as a big man in a small ball league. And before we even mention the numbers, lets acknowledge that it is impressive for a team that you would barely recognize if they walked into Wal Mart is a top the western conference because of him. 

Jokic is the best at what he does

Statistically speaking Jokic is like a rubix cube. You can clearly see the different sides to his game, but it’s hard to put it all together. He is second in the entire NBA in rebounds per game, only behind Domantas Sabonis. But he is 18th in points per game at 24.5. It is normal to expect that an MVP would rate better in scoring, and to make it even more confusing, Jokic’s usage rate doesn’t even crack the top 20. But the thing about Jokic is that he makes a difference in basketball games by being the best at what he does. JJ Redick pointed out that the most efficient basketball play to actually score a bucket, over the last decade is a Nikola Jokic post up! That is a statistic that cannot and should not be ignored. And it is stats like that which is why Nikola Jokic, even with a low usage rating is number 1 in player efficiency for the entire NBA. And remember that stat was good enough for Jordan and LeBron to dominate the NBA for years, so it should be more than good enough to win Jokic an MVP.

Jokic is the heart and soul of his team

On top of all that, Jokic is the heart and soul of the Nuggets. Because nobody is scared to play against Jamal Murray, and Michael Porter Jr., without Jokic in the lineup. The Nuggets roster literally doesn’t make much sense without Jokic. They have a point guard who is a below average distributor for a starter. And very few shot creators on the floor. Jokic is the engine that drives the offense, and any open shots that get generated are often directly influenced by him. He is the team’s leading assist man. Their starting 7 foot center, and this is in the age of “small ball”. So Nikola Jokic is the anti-hero. The big man playing in a guards and wings league, who is doing everything his way, and dominating because of it. The Nuggets may or may not win a championship, but because of a second round draft pick from Serbia who panned out better than anyone could have dreamed, they actually have a shot. Otherwise they’d likely be headed to the lottery in the NBA draft hoping to win the Wembanyama sweepstakes.

 Joel Embiid’s case for MVP

Joel Embiid is the engine that powers the Philadelphia 76ers. And he had better be, because he is basically all the 76ers have to show for their years of tanking their way through what they called “the process”. And Embiid’s career got off to a shaky start, where he was a 5 star recruit who became the 3rd pick in the NBA Draft out of Kansas. Only to miss his first 2 seasons entirely due to injury. But he is an NBA MVP candidate now, and all has been forgiven in the city of brotherly love. So here is Embiid’s campaign for the Michael Jordan trophy, a moment some doubted we’d ever get to see from a career that got off to the rockiest of starts.

Joel Embiid is a stat monster

What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. That’s a trick question because Embiid is that unstoppable force, and the object will probably choose to move itself. Embiid leads the NBA in scoring at 33 points per game. And as the NBA’s scoring leader he is also top 10 in blocks and rebounds per game. Joel Embiid is perhaps the closest thing we have ever seen to Hakeem Olajuwon in the new NBA of floor spacing and three point shooting, because he is a true center, who at times can move like a guard. Embiid led the 76ers to a third place finish in the eastern conference, and it is clear that he is the reason why. Because he is second in the league in player efficiency rating to only Nikola Jokic, but has a usage rating that far exceeds his ranking 3rd in 2023.

Embiid passes the eye test

The truth is that when you watch NBA basketball, Joel Embiid is simply built different. He sends the message to his opponents that he can do whatever he wants, almost whenever he feels like it. The best argument to be made for Embiid as MVP is actually not even about him at all. He plays the way we wish Anthony Davis played all the time. Because Anthony Davis with the Pelicans basically was Joel Embiid, but never on a team that played this well in their conference. Offensively and defensively Embiid has proven himself to be everything the 76ers need and more because James Harden just ain’t what he used to be. He wasn’t an all-star this year, and nobody else on the sixers was either. So basic logic suggests that something special must be going on with Embiid, when literally nobody else has lived up to expectations for the sixers. “Tyrese Maxey” I’m looking at you. To be the NBA MVP you have to be the most dominant force in the game. And there are many nights where that is true for Joel Embiid, regardless of whomever he is playing against. And he has the scoring titles to prove it.

Giannis Antetokounmpo’s case for MVP

The honest truth is that when you’re really good at something, people get sick of you. And Giannis Antetokunmpo is really really good at basketball. So several years into his arrival as arguably the best player in the entire NBA, the disrespect is already getting incredibly real. After going 15th in the draft, which was clearly a steal, the Greek Freak has worked his way into the conversation for one of the greatest players of all time, with his career only half over. Giannis is already a back to back NBA MVP, and NBA champion. So if the MVP is about awarding the best player, then here is a hottake, Giannis still is the best player! And I’ve got the receipts to prove it. Because not only is he the best player, but he is on the best team, and it’s not even close.  So here is Giannis’s campaign for NBA MVP again, a title that they won’t give him anyway because he is so good, people have already gotten bored with him. 

Giannis is a champion

The MVP is called most valuable player for a reason. That means you are valuable towards actually achieving a goal. If the goal is to win more games in the regular season, than Giannis did that this year. And if it is to win an NBA championship, he has set himself up for it by earning home court advantage for the entire playoffs. The Milwaukee Bucks this season played much of the year without their second best scorer Khris Middleton, and when he came back, he came off the bench for a long time. And nobody even noticed because Milwaukee kept winning games. As a matter of fact, Giannis is so good, and the Bucks cause so little drama, that their biggest player acquisition from last season to this year, is Jae Crowder who averages 7 points, and played in 18 games this year. Remember the Bucks were the best team in the league this year. 5 games ahead of the Nuggets. And the only logical reason for that is Giannis Antetokounmpo. 

Giannis is the best player

But if you need more evidence than here we go because Giannis is actually the best player across the board. He finished fifth in the league in scoring, with a higher field goal percentage than anyone in the top 15! He led the league in usage so you can’t say he’s not trying his hardest out there. And he tied for second in the league in rebounds with Nikola Jokic.  We could keep playing the stat game for a while but if you actually watch basketball, I have a serious question. If you were going into a playoff series, and you needed to bet on 1 player to lead your team to victory, who else would you rather go with? If it’s not a 2 time MVP, and NBA champion, then I wish you the best of luck! Giannis is disqualified from winning the Michael Jordan trophy because they hate to give it to the same guy twice. People only act like they don’t know how good Giannis is because the media doesn’t want you to know. Milwaukee gets less love from the media than Mariah gives to Nick Cannon. And he already twisted their arm once to become a back to back mvp, so I guess this season the Larry O’Brien trophy, in the NBA Finals is the best Giannis can potentially do.

Jayson Tatum’s Case for MVP

Wherever there is smoke there is normally fire. And Jayson Tatum is the reason why the boston Celtics have been on fire this season. After leading the Celtics to the NBA finals literally 1 season ago, the story has already been created that he won’t be able to do it again. But years into his NBA career Jayson Tatum is everything that we thought he was. He was a 5 star recruit who went to Duke, and since his 1 and done campaign was drafted 3rd overall. And as a rookie he was already the leading scorer for the Boston Celtics in the eastern conference finals, losing only to LeBron James. But he’s all grown up now, and Tatum leading a team to success is not a fluke, regardless of what the media tells you. So here is his case for the Michael Jordan trophy which would go incredibly well with his Jordan brand sneakers.

Jayson Tatum figures out how to win

Jayson Tatum is different from every other player in the MVP race, because he has always been a major part of his team’s success. Nobody, not even Giannis played as well as Jayson did as a rookie for a team that made a legitimate playoff run. And perhaps his early success as a rookie makes people believe the Celtics don’t need him that badly. But if we are honest the Celtics don’t really know a world without Jayson Tatum, since he got there. And they also don’t know what it means to not make the playoffs since. He actually played more games and more minutes than anyone else in the MVP race, and his team is only 1 game behind Milwaukee for the best record in the entire league. Winning is a habit for Tatum, which is why he won the Missouri state championship in high school and being the best is also a habit, which is why he won the Gatorade national player of the year when he did it. But that is still only half the story.

Jayson Tatum is the best wing player in the NBA

What if I told you that Jayson Tatum right now is playing at the exact same level as Kobe Bryant when he completed a three peat on the Los Angeles Lakers. Because that is just how good his numbers look if you compare them line for line. The only thing you could say about Kobe is that he averaged 2 steals to Jayson’s one. But Jayson Tatum is a better rebounder right now than Kobe ever was averaging in the top 25. But he is also sixth in the league in scoring, fifth in usage rate, and eighth in player efficiency. The truth is that none of the league’s top wing players have been available to play a lot of games this season except Jayson Tatum. Kevin Durant and Kawhi Leonard might be better players, but that doesn’t matter if they are not on the court long enough make a difference. And the Celtics win because of Jayson Tatum, not despite his absence. Tatum may not be his idol Kobe Bryant, but his stats, along with his great success early in his career, has gotten him pretty close. Too bad that won’t be enough to get him the MVP this season, because the media isn’t checking for him. Which is fine, because his plan is to get back to the NBA Finals anyway. Just like Kobe did.

The Bottom Line

The NBA MVP award means so much because it crowns a player as the king of the court. And comes with the expectation for them to win without any excuses. The media chooses the MVP and we already know the two names they have reduced the list down to. But if you’re really looking for the most valuable player, you should probably focus on the best players, on the best teams, in the entire NBA. Either way the Michael Jordan trophy will be handed out to somebody on this list. Let’s just hope that the Larry O’Brien trophy is soon to follow, for their sake.

KNOW THE GAME. WIN THE GAME.

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