'The Joker' enjoys last laugh on naysayers

Jokic's rise was meteoric, but not totally unexpected after the way he played in recent years. Even Kobe Bryant, back in 2019, said he had challenged Jokic to fulfill his potential and win an MVP award.

Challenge accepted. Challenge met. And now Jokic has the trophy that Bryant won in 2008.

"MVP! BEST PLAYER IN THE NBA!" Nuggets teammate Will Barton posted on Instagram.

"I couldn't win it without you guys," Jokic told his teammates when the word came.

Jokic had a league-high 60 double-doubles and added 16 triple-doubles－second-most in the NBA behind only triple-double king and former MVP Westbrook－this season. Jokic's scoring average jumped from 19.9 points per game last season to 26.4. He tied his career high with 10.8 rebounds per game and his average of 8.3 assists was just shy of Wilt Chamberlain's all-time season average (8.6) for a center.

He shot 56 percent from the field and 39 percent from 3-point range.

"The Denver Nuggets drafted me, it was an opportunity for me to become an NBA player," Jokic said. "I think I did a good job of using that opportunity."

A year after leading the Nuggets to the Western Conference Finals in the Walt Disney World bubble in Florida, Jokic steered his team through a trying season marked by a rash of injuries, most notably to fellow star Jamal Murray, who tore his left ACL in April.

Amid all those injuries, Jokic was a rare everyday player, a big man who logged big minutes. He's the only player to start all of his team's regular-season games in the last two seasons, being on the floor for tip-off all 145 times.

Including playoffs, Jokic has logged 5,766 minutes in the last two seasons. That's nearly 300 more than anyone else; he's one of only six players to eclipse 5,000 minutes in that span.

Despite that ever-changing cast around him, Jokic guided Denver to the No 3 playoff seed in the West. Behind Jokic, the Nuggets went 13-5 after Murray tore his ACL on April 12 and he led Denver past the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round of the playoffs.

And his numbers against the Blazers? Historic. He averaged 33 points and 10.5 rebounds on 53 percent shooting from the field, 43 percent from 3-point range and 92 percent from the free-throw line－making him the first player in NBA history to average 30 points and 10 rebounds with the lofty benchmarks of 50 percent from the field, 40 percent from 3 and 90 percent from the foul line in a playoff series.

"Life's about little moments," Malone said late in the regular season. "And Nikola's got about 56 moments where he's shown he's the MVP."

Agencies via Xinhua