Tim Legler

It wasn't as obvious and as overwhelmingly unanimous in the way that people viewed him.

It's like some people were nibbling away at him.

Obviously, SGA at the top of the list, winning an MVP last year and a title.

And so he hits that funk at that time of the year.

some people might have thought okay maybe that's the last time we ever see nicole yokich like you know win an mvp or like be in that conversation because you know sga is going to be there for the foreseeable future right and then there's other guys you kind of feel like are are in line that it's a matter of time when be at the top of the list like that's coming so you look at that and go okay

how does the season end for Jokic this year?

And look what he's done.

I mean, to me, yes, he's put himself right back into that conversation where, you know, it felt like when he was really struggling at that point, as well as Oklahoma City had played all year, you know, you felt like it was going to be harder to make that argument.

It doesn't feel hard to make that argument anymore.

Like he's right back at his very best.

And now, like it's, you know, you sound like a person who knows what you're talking about if you make that case for him as the best player.

And the other thing that really was important, like last year,

As great a year as he had and as historic a year as he had, I think a big determining factor into why he was not able to win MVP was that 16-game gap with Denver and Oklahoma City.

They might have been headed there again this year.

This winning streak has narrowed that significantly to where now, look, and obviously, Oklahoma

advantage throughout the NBA playoffs and so they're able to pull that off again even despite at one point looking like they were vulnerable you know they're going to win they're 63 and 16 I don't know what they end up let's say they end up with 65 wins we Denver's got a chance to be in that 10 11 win gap

That's a lot different when you look at also how well Jokic is playing.

It makes it to me now, if you genuinely believe he's had a better year and he's the better player and he's historically great offensively, all those things, the first person to lead the league in all three categories, as a center doing that, you look at that now, but you don't go, yeah, but Oklahoma City is 18 games better than them.

That part of it is not part of the narrative now.

It's a gap, to be sure, but it's not as overwhelmingly significant.