There was Bill Russell. There was Larry Bird. And now, there’s Nikola Jokic.
By finishing second in this year’s MVP balloting behind only Oklahoma City's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jokic — the Denver Nuggets star — became just the third player in NBA history with a top-two finish in five or more consecutive seasons.
He won the award in 2021, 2023 and 2024, plus was second in 2022 and again this year.
Russell and Bird, a pair of Boston Celtics greats, each were first or second in the balloting in six consecutive seasons.
Russell won in 1958, 1961, 1962 and 1963, while finishing second in 1959 and 1960. Bird was second in 1981, 1982 and 1983 before winning in 1984, 1985 and 1986.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1971-74) and Tim Duncan (2001-04) are the other players with four straight top-two finishes. Michael Jordan and LeBron James each had two different streaks of three consecutive top-two finishes in the voting — but never got past that.
More on Jokic
Jokic had the sixth instance of a player finishing a season averaging a triple-double — at least 10 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds per game.
Only one of those seasons has led to an MVP win.
Oscar Robertson averaged a triple-double in 1961-62; he didn’t win MVP that year. Russell Westbrook did it four times and won the MVP award only once in that span. And now, Jokic finished second after a season statistically like none other.
International players sweep No. 1 votes again
For the fourth consecutive year, no player born in the U.S. got a single first-place vote in the MVP race.
Gilgeous-Alexander (Canada) got 71 votes this year, and Jokic (Serbia) got the other 29.
The last time a U.S.-born player got a first-place vote was 2021, when Stephen Curry got five votes, Chris Paul got two and Derrick Rose got one.
Last year, Jokic got 79 first-place votes, while Gilgeous-Alexander got 15, Luka Doncic (then of Dallas, now of the Los Angeles Lakers) got four and Milwaukee's Giannis Antetokounmpo — born in Greece and someone also of Nigerian descent — got one.
In 2023, Cameroon-born Joel Embiid (73), Jokic (15) and Antetokounmpo (12) got all the first-place nods, while in 2022 it was Jokic (65), Embiid (26) and Antetokounmpo (nine) atop all the ballots.
For LeBron, 22 years, 20 mentions
LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers made it back onto the ballots this season, marking the 20th time in his 22 years in the NBA that he got at least one MVP vote.
He was sixth in this year’s voting.
James didn’t get a vote in either of the last two seasons. He’s the first player in NBA history to get at least one MVP vote in 20 different seasons.
0 for 12 for No. 1 picks
The No. 1 pick drought in the MVP race continues.
It’s now 12 consecutive years since a No. 1 draft pick won the MVP award, going back to LeBron James – then of Miami – in 2013.
The MVPs, and their draft slot, since then:
— Kevin Durant, MVP in 2014, No. 2 pick in 2007
— Stephen Curry, MVP in 2015 and 2016, No. 7 pick in 2009
— Russell Westbrook, MVP in 2017, No. 4 pick in 2008
— James Harden, MVP in 2018, No. 3 pick in 2009
— Giannis Antetokounmpo, MVP in 2019 and 2020, No. 15 pick in 2013
— Nikola Jokic, MVP in 2021, 2022 and 2024, No. 41 pick in 2014
— Joel Embiid, MVP in 2023, No. 3 pick in 2014
— Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, MVP in 2025, No. 11 pick in 2018
Giannis' streak ends
For the first time in seven years, Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo did not get a first-place MVP vote.
That ended the longest active streak. Nikola Jokic now has that streak, with five consecutive years of at least one first-place vote.
Antetokounmpo's run was the longest in the NBA since LeBron James got a first-place vote in eight consecutive years from 2008 through 2015. That run ended when Golden State’s Stephen Curry became the first — and still only — unanimous MVP in 2016.
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba
Tim Reynolds, The Associated Press
