Nikola Jokić Wins Third MVP Award | TMZ Sports
Denver's superstar added some more hardware to his collection last night!
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00:00 [MUSIC]
00:05 Welcome back to TMC Sports, Mike and Mojo.
00:08 Mojo, Nikola Jokic, the superstar from the Denver Nuggets.
00:14 Yes, his team may be down 0-2 in the playoffs, but God,
00:17 he is the best basketball player in the world, Mojo.
00:20 And that was reaffirmed once again last night for
00:24 the third time in his career because the Joker,
00:27 a lot of people thought that this was gonna happen.
00:29 He found out officially last night from Shaquille O'Neal,
00:32 Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley, and Ernie Johnson,
00:35 that he had again won the NBA's MVP award, his third in four seasons.
00:41 Mojo, you may remember last year, Joel Embiid won the award.
00:45 The two years before then, Nikola had won.
00:48 So this guy has, for the last four seasons,
00:51 been hands down the best player in the league.
00:53 He is not the most enthusiastic guy when it comes to celebrating.
00:58 Mojo, we've seen it, whether it's winning a championship last year to when he wins
01:02 these MVP awards, he celebrates like only the Joker could.
01:07 Watch this.
01:07 >> The 2024 MVP from the Denver Nuggets.
01:12 >> [APPLAUSE]
01:18 >> Nikola Jokic, excited as a Joker.
01:23 >> Joker, as the president of the Big Man Alliance,
01:25 you are the vice president of the Big Man Alliance.
01:27 You know I love you, the best player in the league.
01:30 I wanna congratulate you, but I want you to hear from me first.
01:33 I thought the SGA should have been the MVP.
01:35 That's no disrespect to you, but congratulations.
01:38 And what do you guys have to do to get back on track versus Minnesota?
01:41 >> Thank you, Shaq.
01:43 We don't judge people here, so that's fine.
01:45 It's your opinion.
01:47 I'm joking.
01:47 >> [LAUGH] >> No, I'm not kidding.
01:49 >> Hey, all good.
01:51 I love you, I love your brothers.
01:53 One thing we always gonna do is keep it real with each other.
01:55 Congratulations.
01:56 I love you.
01:57 >> Well, I think there is a lot of people, a lot of players that deserve it.
02:01 It's probably details and small things.
02:05 >> Yeah, Mojo, so Shea, Gilgis Alexander finished second.
02:09 That's who Shaq was saying he thought should have won.
02:11 And Luka Doncic, a star from the Mavericks,
02:14 he came in third, any of those guys incredibly worthy of this award.
02:19 Mojo, real quick, I will say that when you win three MVPs,
02:23 I mean, you are truly in rarified air.
02:26 There have been now including Joker,
02:28 there have only been nine guys who have won three or more NBA MVPs.
02:33 Joker joins the likes of Moses Malone, Magic Johnson,
02:37 Will Chamberlain and Larry Bird as the other guys who have three.
02:41 Of course, you've got Bill Russell, LeBron James, Michael Jordan and
02:43 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar who have more than three Mojo.
02:46 I mean, he stopped playing basketball today.
02:48 He's a surefire Hall of Famer and
02:49 he's one of the best basketball players we've ever seen.
02:51 I mean, three NBA MVPs is absolutely incredible.
02:55 >> Madcock, it is only the year 2024 and
02:59 Joker has already a case for being player of the entire decade.
03:05 >> Yes. >> There are a lot of people that think
03:08 that Joker probably should have won the MVP award over Embiid last year,
03:13 which would have given him four in a row, which is ridiculous.
03:17 Doesn't matter shoulda, coulda, woulda, right?
03:19 The fact that you won three in four years is absolutely insane.
03:24 >> Yeah, and Mojo, he's only 29 years old.
03:26 He's still a young guy.
03:27 >> Lot left in the tank for sure, man.
03:31 So this is huge, dude, and it's deserved, right?
03:34 He's been dominant.
03:35 I mean, whatever, there's always going to people arguing why each individual year
03:41 maybe there was somebody else better, but you cannot deny the four years
03:45 that this guy has put on the court.
03:47 It has been absolutely unbelievable.
03:51 >> Shaq cracking me up though with that interview.
03:54 Hey, you just won MVP for the third time.
03:57 I don't think you should have won it.
03:58 Anyways, what are you all gonna do to get back on track here?
04:02 Just burying the guy and
04:03 then immediately moving on without giving him a chance to address it.
04:07 I mean, I love that Shaq is up front.
04:10 He's telling him first before he goes off and does his piece.
04:13 I mean, obviously, it's his job to give his opinion, so he has to do that, but.
04:19 >> I think that's a great point, Mojo.
04:21 But it is, and it's everyone's job on TV to try and be as truthful as possible.
04:25 But the reality is that former players and
04:28 reporters a lot of times are concerned about access.
04:31 And because of that, they don't wanna be overly critical to players and
04:35 especially not to their faces.
04:37 I so much appreciate that Shaq said, hey, I think you're the best player in the league,
04:41 but I don't think you deserve the award this year.
04:43 It should have been so and so, guys.
04:44 So I love that, Mojo.
04:46 I thought that was great.
04:47 And credit to Shaq for being able to look at the guy who is the greatest player in
04:51 the world right now and say, hey, you didn't deserve the award.
04:55 I thought that was pretty cool.
04:56 Now, if Joker wants to show he is the best and he is the guy,
05:02 they have the ability to come back in this series.
05:04 They're down 0-2, they don't play again until tomorrow, they need to win.
05:09 Lead the Nuggets to a win on the road, get the series to within two games to one.
05:15 That's how you show you're the MVP.
05:16 [MUSIC]