Here’s why Derrick Rose got shocking first-place MVP vote

Nikola Jokic took home the NBA’s MVP award on Tuesday, but Derrick Rose still can claim fan-favorite status.

The veteran Knicks guard surprisingly received a first-place vote in the 2020-21 award voting, account for all 10 of his points in the standings. That vote reportedly came via consensus fan vote, according to the Associated Press.

Rose, who won the MVP in 2011, averaged 14.7 points per game to go along with 2.6 rebounds and 4.2 assists over the 2020-21 season, including 14.9 points per game in 35 games after being traded from the Pistons on Feb. 8.

Rose was not the lone Knicks forward to get some love. Most Improved Player Julius Randle earned 20 total points with a third-place vote, five fourth-place votes and nine fifth-place tallies.

Derrick Rose showed up in NBA MVP voting in an unexpected way. Corey Sipkin

Nets star James Harden was the only member of Brooklyn’s Big 3 to get some recognition among voters, finishing with a single fifth-place vote.

Jokic, the Nuggers star, became the first Serbian and third Europeam to win the Maurice Podoloff Trophy with 91 first-place votes and 971 total points, far outpacing the 76ers’ Joel Embiid (one first-place, 586 points) and Golden State’s Stephen Curry (five first-place, 453 points).

LeBron James also garnered a fifth-place vote, making it 18 consecutive years with at least one MVP vote.