Nikola Jokic's MVP Run: 2024 Season Highlights - Denver Nuggets

The 2024 NBA MVP race has been wildly disputed

over the past couple of weeks. And in the eyes of most people, there are five players in contention for this award

I have set out to make a video on the case for each of these top five options

This is the second of those videos. Just two days ago, we explored the compelling case

of Shea Gilgis-Alexander for MVP. And today we dive into the odds-on favorite

the overwhelming case for another Nikola Jokic MVP. Remember, this is the case for, not against

The case against Jokic will come out in the other videos. We are currently 59 games into the 82-game season for the Denver Nuggets

and Nikoli Jokic is averaging 25.9 points per game, 12.2 rebounds, 9.2 assists

all the while shooting 58.1% from the field. And although he did have a more efficient season last year when he did not win the MVP

These just pure box score numbers line up very nicely with his other two MVPs in 2021 and 2022

where he averaged 26.4 points per game, 10.8 and 8.3 on 56.6, and then 27.1, 13.8, 7.9 on 58.3

He did take two less shots per game last season, which obviously would contribute to his insane

efficiency. But even so, I think it is pretty clear that he is having one of the best seasons

of his career this year, even though it wasn't as efficient as last. First of all, Nikola Jokic

is turning the ball over at the lowest rate he has since 2018 with just 2.9 turnovers this season

compared to 3.6 last year, 3.8 in 2022, and 3.1 in 21, 20, and 19. And when you factor in usage

his turnover percentage is a career low at 11.9% per clean the glass. But before we get too deep

into the advanced ytics, let's first just talk about some insane stat lines that Jokic

has had this year. On December 28th versus the Memphis Grizzlies, Nicola would score 26 points

on 11 for 11 from the field. He also was perfect from the free throw line at three for three

had 14 rebounds and 10 assists. And that was in a blowout win

that he only played 29 minutes in. In the next night, in a back-to-back loss

versus the Thunder, he would go nine for 10 from the field and then six for seven and 13 for 16

marking only five missed shots over a four-game span, which according to NBA history

is the third highest field goal percentage over a four-game span in the shot clock era

with the other two both being from Wilt Chamberlain in 1966 and 1967

Yes Nikola Jogic went 39 for 44 in four regular season NBA games I still cannot wrap my head around that Oh yeah and let not forget that that last game included a game three from Jokic

to beat the Warriors as the clock expired. And then on January 14th versus the Pacers

in an eight-point win, he goes 12 for 13 from the field with 25 points, 12 rebounds, and nine assists

And just a week later against the Wizards, he goes 15 for 20 from the field with 42 points

12 rebounds, and eight assists. Almost exactly one month later, on February 22nd versus the Wizards again, he again goes perfect from the field

10-for-10, 21 points, 19 rebounds, and 15 assists. And then Nikola Jokic, over the next two games, follows that performance up with 29-15-14 and 32-16-16

giving him a three-game third-quarter triple-double streak, averaging 27 points, 17 rebounds, and 15 assists

And the following game versus the Kings in another win, he would only score 19 points

on nine shots, but he would again have a triple-double. So that's four games in a row with a triple-double

In that February 25th game where he went 32, 16, 16, and four steals, he became the first

player in NBA history to reach those numbers as well. I hope you're getting a pretty robust picture of the insane season that Nikola Jokic is having

I just had to point out those individual box score nights before we got into the advanced ytics because it's absolutely absurd

But before we do, I want to say one thing. I understand that we as humans get bored with greatness, especially prolonged greatness that is exposed to us for a considerable amount of time

We all did the same thing with the New England Patriots and Tom Brady, and people have even done it with Patrick Mahomes over the past couple years

trying to say Joe Burrow was better than him in 2021 and 2022

and even Josh Allen over the past couple years. Let's be real for a second. Nikoli Jokic is an otherworldly talent that we will probably never see again in the NBA

And his case for MVP is just as good as it's ever been

According to cleaningtheglass.com, who filters out garbage time, he is currently dominating the 4-14 foot range, which they call the short mid-range

He's currently shooting 61% on over 400 attempts, which is good for second in the NBA with a minimum of 50 attempts behind only Zubats for the Clippers

And he's currently leading the entire NBA in on-off plus-minus at plus 24.2 per CleanTheGlass.com

Just how good is this? Well, CleanTheGlass estimates the Nuggets win 51 more games this season with Nikola Jokic than without him

They play like a 66 win team on the court in his average of 34 minutes

And in the 14 minutes without him, like a 15 win team. To provide some perspective for you we going to go through each one of these other contenders for MVP and show you their on off plus minus plus their estimated win plus minus as well Starting with Jason Tatum he in the 69th percentile at plus 3 on plus minus and he adds plus five

expected wins to the Celtics, making Boston a 67 win team with him on the court and a 62 win team

without. That really just shows you how good this Boston Celtics team is even without Jason Tatum

Luka ranks fourth in this list at plus 8.3 on off in the 89th percentile

Dallas plays like a 50-win team with him on the court and a 30-win team with him off the court

Then we have SGA at plus 11.2 on off in the 94th percentile in the entire NBA

OKC plays like a 65-win team with him on the court and a 41-win team with him off

And lastly, we have Giannis, who is a plus 13.5 on off in the 97th percentile

Milwaukee is a 59-win team with them on and a 28-win team with them off

But Clean the Glass also has a really cool stat I wanted to show you guys as well

where it factors in the effective field goal percentage of an entire team with that player on the court

And of course, Nikola Jokic is not only first on this list, but first in the entire NBA

with a plus 7.9% team effective field goal percentage with him on the court

which doubles Giannis' plus 4.2% and dwarfs Luka's plus 3.2, Jason Tatum's plus 1.6, and SGA's plus

0.4. And when it comes to my last video on Shea, I talked a lot about estimated plus minus on

dunksandthrees.com. For some reason, that metric doesn't like Jokic as much this year as past

years, ranking him fourth in the entire NBA and behind both Luka, Giannis, and SGA. But if we

quickly take a look at both Darko and LeBron, which are both highly regarded all-in-one metrics

as well, Jokic ranks first in the entire NBA in both of those. In Darko, you have Giannis second

overall at plus 6.6, Tatum fourth overall at plus 5.8, Luka eighth at plus 4.6, and Shea all the way

down at 13th at plus 4. And then in LeBron with Jokic at one, you have Giannis two as well, SGA

at four, Luka fifth, and Jason Tatum at 11. And if we take a look at LeBron's historical data when

it comes to MVPs, this is what we find. In 2023, Joel Embiid ranked third in LeBron. In 2022

Nikola Jokic ranked first. In 2021, Nikola ranked first. In 2020 and 2019, Giannis ranked first. In

2018, James Harden ranked first. In 2017, Russell Westbrook ranked fourth. In 2016, Steph Curry

ranked second. In 2015, Steph Curry ranked first. And in 2014, Kevin Durant ranked first. If you

remember the SGA video I did I did the same thing with EPM and to me it looks like historical MVPs

rank higher in LeBron than they do on EPM Two last things I want to mention are defense and team success Nikola Jokic is underrated defensively According to cleantheglass the Nuggets are giving up 5 points less per 100 possessions

with Jokic on the court, which is in the 91st percentile. They're also allowing 6.6 less offensive rebounds, which is in the 98th percentile

and 6.4 less made free throws per 100 possessions with Jokic on the court

Compared to the rest of the contenders, Giannis is minus 4.3 points per 100 possessions

Jason Tatum is minus 2.4. Luka is minus 2. And SGA is plus 0.5

We don't have enough time to get into why Nikola Jokic is underrated defensively

But I put up some highlights to kind of show you. And hopefully some of these advanced ytics seal the deal

The final thing we have to mention is team success. Because MVPs are not won in a vacuum

They are won by media voters. And media voters aren't just going to look at LeBron or EPM or Darko and make their pick

So why should Jokic deserve an MVP when Giannis is at the top of his conference

Shea has brought the Thunder to the top of their conference, and Jason Tatum is leading a historically good Boston Celtics team

Well, firstly, with the Oklahoma City Thunder, let's not pretend like the Nuggets are far away from them

They're a half game out of first in the Western Conference. The Nuggets did not get worse from last season

The West just got better. So I wouldn't be mad if the voters chose Jokic over an SGA as long as the Nuggets stay paced and only finish a game or two back from the Oklahoma City Thunder at the end of the season

When it comes to Giannis and Milwaukee, the Nuggets are having very similar team success

I don't think you could argue that really. And then with Jason Tatum and the Boston Celtics, to me that's just a historically incredible team

and as great as Jason Tatum is, there is absolutely no denying that Nikola Jokic is far more valuable

to the Denver Nuggets than Jason Tatum is to the Boston Celtics. Like we said before with

cleaning the glass, the Boston Celtics are a 62-win team without Jason Tatum, and the Nuggets

are a 15-win team without Nikola Jokic. Obviously, those are small sample sizes. These guys are

playing a majority of games, but it is a point to bring up. The Boston Celtics are a playoff team

without Jason Tatum. So my one challenge to you in this video is to not get bored with continued greatness

Nikola Jokic is on a run over the past four seasons that will go down in NBA history

Don't become numb to it, just enjoy it for what it is. Because one day when you're in your 60s and 70s

your grandkids are gonna ask you about what it was like to watch Nikola Jokic

play basketball. Or they'll just search his highlights on YouTube. Thanks for watching. If you enjoyed this video

check out the video I just made on the compelling case for a Shea Gilgis Alexander MVP and be on the lookout for my next video

the controversial case for a Luka Doncic MVP. Don't forget to subscribe and hit the notification

bell. And as always, we'll see you on the hard way