Nuggets' Nikola Jokic has 'zero interest' in MVP announcement

While most NBA fans look forward to Tuesday evening’s announcement of the 2022-23 Most Valuable Player, Nuggets star and MVP finalist Nikola Jokic claims he’s not exactly waiting on that news with bated breath. 

As Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN writes, following a huge Game 2 on Monday (39 points, 16 rebounds), Jokic said that, weather permitting, he’d like to be “in the swimming pool” when the NBA reveals this season’s MVP.

“I don’t really think about it,” Jokic said. “Like zero interest.”

Jokic has certainly had the most impressive postseason of the three finalists, given that Joel Embiid has missed two of five Sixers games due to a knee injury and Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s Bucks were upset by the eighth-seeded Heat in round one.

Of course, MVP voting was completed before the playoffs began, but teammate Jamal Murray and head coach Michael Malone pointed to Jokic’s Game 2 performance as a perfect example of why he has won two MVP awards and deserves a third. 

According to Youngmisuk, Malone said on Monday that if Jokic doesn’t win this year’s award, he intends to tell the star center that he’s “he’s the MVP in my eyes.”