Not shocked at all by Jokic leading. He’s basically been the default best player convo for like 3 years now.

Jokic at 35 out of 53 is honestly not even that surprising at this point. The guy just does everything at an elite level. The Wemby votes are interesting though, feels like people are already starting to crown him the future. SGA deserves way more recognition for what he did this season honestly

One direct quote from a voter in favor of each player:

Jokic:

“SGA’s godly efficiency becomes average in the playoffs. Some efficiency drop is normal but if both players are fully healthy, and I can only have one for a playoff run, I still lean Jokic. As great as SGA is, the Thunder win playoff series with their defense. Denver wins playoff series with Jokic.”

SGA:

“He can create an efficient shot in any situation,” one anonymous voter told me. “The best team in the league manages on offense mostly due to his elite shot-making. We haven’t seen a player this fluid in offense, especially in mid-range, in years. He does all these while being a decent defender which his nearest competition (Jokic) isn’t.”

Wemby:

“He’s far and away the best player on defense, in ways that impact metrics still underestimate, and he is also a top 10 offensive player,” one Wemby voter said. “He hasn’t had the best season, Shai has, but Wemby is the best player when he’s on the floor right now.”

Other notable line from the article:

“I polled several people in both the Milwaukee and Los Angeles markets. None of them voted for Giannis or Luka, or even mentioned them as contenders for votes. Both obviously remain great players, but they are in a different tier in the minds of voters. Kawhi Leonard was the only other name outside of the big three that even drew a sliver of consideration.”

Makes sense. While Luka has been in the convo since the second half of this season, with the injury and everything…plus recency bias of him not currently still being on a tear means people will probably say he didn’t have a case in the first place now

Every answer other than Nikola Jokic feels like a wrong answer

Jokic averaged a triple-double two seasons in a row.

The majority of people think he is the best player in the world in both seasons.

He had arguably the greatest offensive peak of all-time this season.

He will not win the mvp either of the last two seasons.

Sounds reasonable.

Not even a single Luka vote is slightly surprising given Wemby is here as well.

Jokic makes sense, but I’m surprised Luka didn’t get a single vote.

Best player in the NBA always has to be determined in the playoffs and the level they reach there. All well and good to be great in regular season, but if you can’t replicate that level then its not super relevant.

I’m a big Jokic fan and I think he probably holds the majority of the votes for max 3 seasons. Wemby is inevitable

Honestly expected more votes for SGA this year given the season he put together but media voters tend to be conservative and Jokic has just been so consistently dominant. The Wemby votes are interesting though. 8 voters already think a 22 year old in his second year is the best player in the world and honestly it’s hard to fully argue against it given what he’s shown on both ends. In two or three years this poll is going to look completely different.

Those 8 votes for Wemby are going to look very interesting in a few years. The guy is 22 years old and already getting serious consideration from media members as the best player on the planet. Jokic at 35 votes makes sense given his last few seasons but this race is going to be a lot different by 2027 or 2028. Shai getting 10 is fair given how dominant OKC has been but Wemby closing the gap this fast is genuinely scary for everyone else

itll be interesting to see who the players think is currently the best. I always love the randomly high number of votes that iso gods tend to get

I don’t necessarily disagree with him being the best as I think of him and shai as 1a/1b, but i did think it would be closer tbh

I’m surprised Jokic only got 35 out of 53 to be honest.

But, Luka?

Luka averages 33.5 points per game (1st). Wemby averages 25.0 (13th) - that is the same difference between Wemby (13th) and Derrick White (49th) with 16.5 PPG. There’s levels to scoring and you can’t put Luka and Wemby as equals offensively.

If you’re talking about Luka plays only on offense, he averages 2.1 stocks per game and #37th in defensive win shares - around the same as Mobley and Steph Castle who are all-defense caliber players.

Not to mention Luka is second at points created with 52.7 per game while Wemby is #38th at 32.6 per game.

There’s solid statistical and eye-test argument to consider Luka over Wembanyama for the 3rd slot in the best player conversation.

I don’t think it’s even a debate, Jokic is obviously the best, and it’s not particularly close.

Yea this is why people don’t believe media

You can’t watch what Luka did in March averaging 37 for a month and tell me not 1 media clown thinks he’s the best player in the nba.

As for Wemby, they are jetpacking him into best player discussions when he’s far below the top players ppg and has yet to play a playoff game, stupid favoritism towards him

Will Wemby be the best player in 3 years? Maybe. Is he right now? No. Too much of a gap in his scoring. Also his durability hasn’t been tested, we don’t know how he’s going to handle the playoffs even