Suns-Nuggets: Nikola Jokic needs NBA title to take spot alongside MVPs like LeBron, Jordan

Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic picks up a loose ball in the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Phoenix Suns Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2023, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

DENVER – The Phoenix Suns are looking to deny Nikola Jokic the distinction of being a multiple league MVP winner – and NBA champion.

The Suns swept the Denver Nuggets in the 2021 Western Conference semifinals the year Jokic won his first MVP. They’ll face him again in the conference semifinals starting Saturday with Game 1 in Denver.

Jokic is a finalist for this season’s MVP with Joel Embiid and Giannis Antetokounmpo. If he wins it for a third straight time, Jokic will join Larry Bird, Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell with that rare distinction.

The Nuggets big man won’t be just another MVP if he pulls off this specific award trifecta.

Jokic then will have to win a championship before his career ends or be the only player to win three straight MVPs – and not take home a title.

That’ll be the major “BUT” part of his legacy. He needs a championship to put an authoritative stamp on winning those MVPs.

Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic controls the ball during Game 1 of the first-round playoff series against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Rings separate MVPs

There have been 15 players to win at least two MVPs.

Only three haven’t won a championship, too: Karl Malone, Steve Nash – and yes, Jokic.

The rings separate the MVPs. It’s why LeBron James can comfortably sit at the same table with Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan, to name a few, and know he belongs.

Jokic won’t be able to even knock on the door of that championship wing without a ring.

He’ll still be viewed as a tremendously unique big man who stuffs the stat sheet. Jokic has taken Denver to historic heights after being a second-round pick in 2014 out of Serbia, but he won’t be in that special MVP class without a title.

Hard to imagine that happening this year. The fourth-seeded Suns are considered by many as the favorite to come out of the West with Kevin Durant and Devin Booker.

Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker (1) reacts after forward Kevin Durant (35) scores a three-point basket against the Los Angeles Clippers during the second half in game four of the 2023 NBA playoffs at Crypto.com Arena on April 22, 2023.

Barkley, Rose interrupted Jordan, James MVP 3-peat

Bird was the last player to win three MVPs in a row from 1984-86. He captured two of his three NBA championships during that run and reached the finals all three years.

Story continues

That’s why Bird was shoulders deep in the GOAT conversation at the time.

He was the best player leading the Celtics to championships.

Then Jordan started rewriting that story, but not even Jordan or James won three in a row. Probably should’ve, but Charles Barkley (1992-93) and Derrick Rose (2010-11) deserved the award, too.

Jordan took Barkley winning that MVP “personal,” courtesy of “The Last Dance,” but the Suns posted the NBA’s best record that season at 62-20 and reached the finals before losing to his first three-peat Bulls.

Rose’s Bulls finished with the NBA’s top mark of 62 wins, too. James led the Heat past the Bulls in the conference finals, 4-1, but check out that Chicago roster and name another future Hall of Famer.

James played with two in Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade. The Bulls are a first-round exit without Rose.

Jan 28, 2023; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid (21) drives against Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic (15) in the third quarter at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-USA TODAY Sports

Jokic’s best team ever in Denver

Have a feeling Embiid is going to win MVP this season, but the vote will be close.

Jokic winning it for a third straight year wouldn’t be a surprise, but Phoenix is good enough to abruptly end his postseason run within the next two weeks.

The Suns now have an NBA MVP in Durant, who won back-to-back finals MVP with Golden State. If he wins a third championship, Durant will be one shy of tying James.

Durant is the main reason the Suns are favorites to come out of the West, but this is the best team Jokic has had with the Nuggets, who are the No. 1 seed in the West for the first time ever.

Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. are healthy. Aaron Gordon played like an All-Star this season. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope fits perfectly, Bruce Brown has been a great addition and rookie Christian Braun has got some game. Denver doesn’t have a great bench, but it has guys who can contribute.

Michael Malone is in many ways an underrated coach who calls out his team when it fails to play at the level he desires, but Denver’s success starts and ends with Jokic.

If Jokic falls short again of a championship – or at least reaching the finals – it ultimately falls on his shoulders. He’ll remain a great player even if Denver doesn’t win it all, but just check out this list of the 12 multiple MVPs with at least one NBA title.

Game 2: Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray controls the ball as Minnesota Timberwolves guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker guards in the third quarter.

Special MVP/NBA champion list

Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nuggets center Nikola Jokic jostle for poition during the second half aturday night.

Karl Malone reached the finals three times. He fell to Jordan’s second three-peat Bulls while leading Utah and was injured when the Lakers lost to the Pistons in 2004.

Nash never reached the finals, but advanced to the conference finals four times. Duncan and the Spurs denied him twice while he was with Dallas in 2003 and Phoenix in 2005.

Dirk Nowitzki led the Mavericks past Nash’s Suns in 2006 and Bryant pushed the Lakers past Phoenix in 2010. Nowitzki and Bryant each have just one MVP by the way.

Bryant has five championships. Nowitzki only won one, but it came against James and the ‘not four, not five, not six, not seven’ Heat.

Jokic hasn’t played in the finals and only reached the conference finals once in the 2020 bubble. The Nuggets made an improbable run in coming back from 3-1 deficits against the Jazz and Clippers before falling to James and the Lakers.

Brooklyn Nets’ Dorian Finney-Smith, left, and Spencer Dinwiddie, right, defend Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic during the first half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, March 19, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Special player, but

Jokic had established himself as an All-Star at this point, but he came off that memorable playoff run and won his first MVP with historic numbers – 26.4 points, 10.8 rebounds and 8.3 assists.

He became the third player in NBA history to average 26 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists, joining Oscar Robertson and Russell Westbrook.

Robertson and Westbrook are guards. Jokic is a big man putting up those type of assist numbers as the offense runs through him.

His value to Denver can’t be measured as he has his own list of franchise firsts.

That season alone, he became the first Nuggets player ever to win league MVP and first to start in an NBA All-Star game since Carmelo Anthony in 2011.

A billboard depicting Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic hangs on a building in Belgrade, Serbia, Friday, May 13, 2022. Jokic has earned a second straight NBA Most Valuable Player trophy to become the second consecutive international player to win two in a row. The 27-year-old from Serbia averaged 27.1 points, 13.8 rebounds and 7.9 assists. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

Then when Jokic won it last season, he became the first player in NBA history to rack up at least 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 500 assists in a season and the first to average at least 25 points, 13 rebounds and six assists in a season.

So, he’s got numbers. Historically ridiculous numbers. He’ll be a future first-ballot Hall of Famer.

Hope Jokic plays his entire career in Denver.

The city loves him, but Jokic is missing the one thing that’ll take him from being a multiple MVP winner to being one of the best to ever win an MVP.

A championship.

Without it, he can’t spend hours in a conversation about the greatest of the greats to win the NBA’s biggest individual honor.

Have opinion about current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on Twitter at @DuaneRankin.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Suns-Nuggets: Does Nikola Jokic need NBA championship to put stamp on his multiple MVPs?