With a quarter of votes in, Jokic is reportedly leading the MVP race / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: USA Today Sports – Scanpix Credit USA Today Sports – Scanpix

The NBA MVP race between Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid, and Giannis Antetokounmpo is one of the closest in recent years. With all players having their arguments on why they should claim the prestigious award, the voters have a tough task ahead of them to choose the Most Valuable Player of the league.

Giannis Antetokounmpo

MIN:32.9PTS:29.88 (61.79%)REB:11.61As:5.79ST:1.07BL:1.36TO:3.27GM:67ProfileNBA2021/2022

Wanting to be ahead of the curve, NBA Reddit users have a yearly tradition of following the MVP race after the regular season ends, and trying to gather all public information regarding the votes.

Users from all over the r/NBA subreddit search for tweets, listen to various podcasts, watch TV shows, and more to find out which voters have been assigned for that season's voting.

The fans have been able to confirm 26 NBA MVP ballots so far, and the results are much more one-sided than previously thought. Nikola Jokic is comfortably leading the race with 18 first-place votes so far. Joel Embiid is second with 5 1st-place votes, while Giannis Antetokounmpo is third with three 1st-place votes.

No other players than Jokic, Embiid, or Antetokounmpo have reportedly received first-place votes.

MVP votes collected by Reddit usersCredit Reddit user u/texasalaskamontana

This morning marked the deadline until which the voters had to submit their MVP ballots.

With lots more votes still to come, the situation can change, but as it stands, the big man from Serbia is on his way to winning his second MVP award in a row. If Jokic achieves this feat, it would be the first time in NBA history when four straight MVP trophies do not go to an American player.

The last time three MVPs went to International players was 15 years ago when Steve Nash became a back-to-back MVP in the 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 seasons and then was followed by Dirk Nowitzki winning the title in the 2006-2007 season.

This time, Giannis Antetokounmpo won the trophy in 2019 and 2020 and was followed by Nikola Jokic winning it last year.

Jokic averaged 27.1 points, 13.8 rebounds, and 7.9 assists per game for the Nuggets during the regular season, while Embiid scored 30.6 points, grabbed 11.7 rebounds, and dished out 4.2 assists for the 76ers.

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