its bad to compare stats from year to year to determine MVP or anything else. each year plays differently.

you have to look at trends of the year you’re currently gathering information on.

you can’t base another year’s stats on this current year’s stats.

Jokic MVP discourse would definitely be less toxic on both sides if you swapped the years he won the awards

As it stands now there are both people who think the goalposts have been moved for him to win and people who think that his truly all-time individual seasons haven’t been recognized due to voter fatigue and somehow both of those things could arguably be true at once given the numbers in this post

If Embiid won in 2022 and Jokic got his 3rd another year way fewer people would complain (there also wouldn’t be half the outrage from Luka fans over 2024 without the “but Jokic won as a 6 seed” precedent)

Has there been any other player who literally has better stats in the non-MVP seasons of their prime than in the MVP seasons?

Yeah, happens a lot. Kobe, Giannis, Barkley, probably a couple other guys

In Jokic’s 3 mvp seasons, never once was he the first seed, never once did he win 60 wins, never once did he make it out of the 2nd round. 2 mvps came before he won a ring. People always act like team record matters yet Jokic was the exception 3 times. All because there were two years every single person on this planet was obsessed with advanced stat and think that can perfectly decide who’s the best player. And in 2026 we just suddenly decide BPM is dated and EPM is the best one, which isn’t being talked about that much anyway! Like people were mad talking about LEBRON or RAPTOR and nowadays no one gives a shit.

If Jokic didn’t win those mvps, I wouldn’t even attempt to argue Luka’s case. So you gotta thank those voters for the toxic conversations I guess.

Jokic had to win a ring to get 3rd MVP. Similarly, he needs a 2nd ring to win 4th MVP. Nobody wans to put Jokic in the same ballpark as Lebron, if he hasn’t proven himself in the playoffs as an all time great. Jokic had a relatively weak season in 2024, but it was voters saying “my bad” and giving him the flowers, imho.

Isn’t it wild that people care so much about a subjective award that is voted on by a lot of people who don’t know shit about basketball?

It seems like half of this subreddit is MVP Attorneys lol

Has there been any other player who literally has better stats in the non-MVP seasons of their prime than in the MVP seasons?

wilt won mvp in exactly one of his top six scoring seasons. it was not the year he averaged ⁵⁰⁄₂₅.

I could not give less of a shit about the mvp award

Yea and he shouldn’t have won that year, Luka averaged 34/9/10 on an injured 50 win Mavs team

Gee it’s almost like the MVP award is 100% based on the media narrative and has nothing to do with the day to day on the court.

Robbed in 2025.

Insane lol

Listing PRA & true shooting percentage makes that season seem weaker, but I think he was performing at the same (or better) level. Denver were similarly great offensively with him on the floor, and had the second best record in the west that year.

What is also lost here is that 2024 was one of Jokic’s strongest defensive seasons. Denver had the 9th best defense in the league with a respectable 111.9 defensive rating with jokic on the court.

People ignore defense with offensively dominant guys like Jokic but it’s another way they can add or take away value. Imo 2023-2024 was the last year where he was positive on defense, before his decline on that end over the last couple seasons (particularly this year after coming back from injury). Definitely a deserving MVP regardless of his PRA and true shooting.

Guys…

Who CARES. And I mean, players competing care and want the mvp, but fans should just stop caring. There are plenty of guys that deserved more mvps than they won. LeBron and MJ come to mind instantly, Jokic as well.

The best player in the league is not the mvp, people need to understand that. Last year the players in interviews said that jokic was the best player in the league, despite that sga was their pick for mvp

Why would you compare MVP’s across seasons and not look at his direct competition in the year he won it?

Yes, MJ, Lebron, Wilt, Kobe, Kareem maybe even Harden and Russ.

It happens all the time.

The competition in his best year’s has been stronger than the years he won, theres not really a mystery lol

I’m tired man and don’t care if Jokic wins another one. 3 is already a lot as is. Only 5 players have 4+ (Bron, MJ, Kareem, Wilt, and Russell).

It will also be the year he was up against the worst competition?

Its because voters weren’t fatigued yet. This isn’t a surprise.

Ngl i thought Shai should’ve won that year

Looks to me like a lot of multi-MVP winners have off-years that were statistically better than some of their MVP winning years.

Luka shouldve won MVP in 23-24, and he should win it this season too, coming from a Heat fan

The mvp standard changes each year because every season is different. Some years it takes 54 wins to get the 1 seed some years it takes 65. One year there’s 4 great candidates, the next it might be only 2. Some years its a one person race because someone runs away it. It doesn’t matter what you do in a vacuum, it matters what you do compared to the field. It’s the reason people vote in the first place, because it’s fluid.

Luka shoulda won that year, Jokic shoulda won the year Embiid won

This year should be a dog fight between Shai and Luka

he should have been 4 time MVP nobody is closer to him being efficient 👍🏻

It’s really tricky. Not to take away from Jokic’s greatness and continued improvement but his assists being innacurate (like a post showed on here recently) is something to take into slight account.

My personal current rankings would be:
1- Shai/Luka
2- Luka/Shai
3- Jokic
4- Wemby
5- Cade
6- Brown

He’s not the MVP

He probably has 1 more MVP than he should have

He’s probably going to stay at 3

He is ASS at defense

HTF do you avg 3X10 as a C and not get MVP