Jokic followed up on the triumphs of 2021 and 2022 and shares the fourth place in the historical order with Larry Bird, Moses Malone and Magic Johnson. The award was won four times by LeBron James and Wilt Chamberlain, five times by Bill Russell and Michael Jordan, and the record holder is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with six successes.
Jokic, who led the Denver Nuggets to their first title last June, finished the regular season with averages of 26.4 points per game, 12.4 rebounds and nine assists. He was the only player to rank in the top ten in points, rebounds and assists.
Canadian Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 30.1 points per game in the regular season, had 5.5 rebounds and 6.2 assists. Slovinec Dončič was even better in these statistics: he leads the league with an average of 33.9 points, to which he had 9.8 assists and 9.2 rebounds.
Jokic received a total of 926 points in the vote, Gilgeous-Alexander received 640 and Doncic 566. The Greek Janis Adetokunbo from Milwaukee finished in fourth place with 192 points, and for the first time in history, the first four places of the poll were occupied exclusively by foreigners. The American basketball player won the award for the last time in 2018, when James Harden triumphed.
