I guess the 3rd time really is a charm. Nikola Jokic won his 3rd MVP trophy cementing his NBA legacy as one of the best to ever do it. However,  the debate has already begun...did he deserve it? Jokic averaged 26.4 points, 12.4 rebs and 9 assists per game. Darn near a triple double every game. For a 7 footer, that's incredible. Jokic is the first center in six decades to win 3 mvp's in 4 years since Kareem Abdul Jabbar did it in 1977.

The eye test suggests the race for NBA should have been a lot closer than it actually was. Players like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Luka Doncic, Jalen Brunson and Anthony Edwards all balled out this season and were very worthy of winning the award. Shai Gilgeous averaged 30.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 6.2 assists per game on a OKC team that finished first in the western conference and took the NBA by storm. If I had a vote, it was going to Shai.

I guess the big question is, what does MVP mean? Most valuable to the league? Most valuable to your team? How do we even measure that? Some say, how much success would a team have if you took the player off the team and that's how you determine the MVP...That doesn't really do it for me. I think this award should be determined by stats. Take the average of all statistical categories and whoever has the best stats should win the award. 

Jokic received 79 first place votes and 926 total while Shai got 15 first place votes and 640 total. The race wasn't even close which will be debated until next years MVP is voted on.