On Tuesday, the NBA announced that Nikola Jokic won the MVP award.
The Denver Nuggets star became the third European player to win the award and the first center to win it since Shaquille O’Neal. The accomplishment does not end there, but Jokic is also the lowest draft pick ever to win the award and the only player in Nuggets history to finish the season as the MVP.
Jokic was drafted by the Nuggets in the 2014 NBA Draft with the No. 41 overall pick. Even more humorous is that he was selected during a Taco Bell commercial. The moment was quote tweeted by the official Taco Bell Twitter once Jokic was announced as the MVP. “He’s a #1 pick in our books,” the Taco Bell tweet said.
The Denver Nuggets’ star averaged career highs this season of 26.4 points per game, 10.8 rebounds and 8.3 assists. The All-Star center led Denver to the third seed. Denver is currently in the second round of the playoffs.
The All-Star spoke to the TNT’s crew Inside The NBA after winning the award. “To be honest, I didn’t even think about being in the NBA,” Jokic revealed. “My goal when I started to play basketball back home was to play in the EuroLeague because that was the closest top league to my country. I could play in some big clubs in Serbia and grind my way up. But then the Denver Nuggets drafted me, and it was an opportunity for me to become an NBA player.”
“It’s a big accomplishment,” Jokic said. “But it’s something that, as I said to the guys, it’s not just me. I couldn’t do it by myself. It’s something that it is an individual award, but it’s the effort of everybody who is part of the Denver Nuggets organization.”
The Nuggets are currently in the second round facing the Phoenix Suns. The Nuggets are hoping to win a championship this season. A championship is what Jokic wants to win the most. “I’d rather win a championship than MVP,” he said.
