Former NBA player Gilbert Arenas stirred the pot with his controversial comments on 2x MVP Nikola Jokic a few days ago. After winning in 2021 and 2022, The Joker is again the frontrunner in the MVP race this year. Given his performances and numbers, it would be tough to argue against his case but Arenas did just that. He even went a step further and called Jokic the “worst MVP winner.” Arenas had to take the names of former MVPs Michael Jordan and Russell Westbrook to back his claim and after all the backlash on social media, he explained what makes the Chicago Bulls legend worthy of the title.
Arenas had initially argued that the two times Joker won his MVP titles, the Nuggets finished 3rd and 6th in the Western Conference. MVPs have historically been given to the best player on the team with the best record. However, there have been other anomalies similar to Jokic. In 1988 and 2017, Michael Jordan and Russell Westbrook were named the MVPs despite their teams finishing 3rd and 6th in their conference, respectively. So what makes MJ’s first MVP award more special than Jokic’s?
“Now, the only time that happened was 88. Jordan. His team was 7th (Overall). And obviously, we know what happened in 88,” Arenas said in his podcast, ‘Gils Arena’. He further explained, “Defensive player of the year, scoring title, steals champ, dunk champ. And I think All-Star MVP. So it was a historic year.”
Arenas stated that this isn’t the case with Jokic and went on to dissect his previous wins. In 2020-21, when Jokic won his first MVP award, the Nuggets had the 5th best record overall and the Serbian was part of the All-NBA First Team. The next year, the Nuggets had the 10th-best overall record in the league, yet Jokic was again named the MVP.
After defending his comment from the episode of Nightcap, the retired NBA player claimed that the winner of the MVP title in 2021 was someone else and not Jokic. He believes that Giannis Antetokounmpo should have won the MVP that year.
Gilbert Arenas’ claim about Nikola Jokic’s first MVP
“The problem is these m*****f*****s right here, right? The winner of Jokic’s first one should have been the Greek Freak, but they didn’t want to give Greek his third straight MVP, so they f****d up there. This is not me. They f****d up because they didn’t want to give Greek his third one, so they gave it a Jokic,” Arenas said in the podcast.
Furthermore, he also stated that Jokic’s second MVP title should have been given to Westbrook, who averaged a triple-double that year. While Arenas argued about Jokic’s previous wins, many also voiced their appreciation for Luka Dončić and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as favorable contenders for the MVP award this year.
Jokic is currently averaging 26 points, 12 rebounds, and 9 assists per game and is part of the 2nd-seed in the West. While Arenas’ claim might have some weight to it, there won’t be too many complaints from the general NBA community if the Joker wins his 3rd MVP this season.
