Every Denver Nuggets Player to Win NBA MVP

The Denver Nuggets have the luxury of running one of the best players in the world onto the court every night. Nikola Jokic has become a yearly NBA MVP candidate and is a finalist for the award once again for the 2024-25 season.

The Nuggets don't have a storied history with the MVP award. Denver entered the NBA in 1976 and didn't have anyone win it until 2021.

What follows is a look at the Nuggets players who have been named NBA MVP and the team's history with the award.

History of the NBA MVP Award

The NBA has handed out its Most Valuable Player Award every season since 1956 when St. Louis Hawks forward Bob Pettit won it. Since 2021, each winner has received the Michael Jordan Trophy, a change from the previous name, the Maurice Podoloff Trophy.

Until the 1979-80 season, the MVP was chosen by a player vote, but that changed for the 1980-81 campaign with a group of sportswriters and broadcasters across the league voting on the selection. Each ballot has five slots, with each first-place vote worth 10 points, second worth seven, third worth five, fourth worth three, and fifth-place worth one.

Thirty-six different players have won the NBA MVP award. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the all-time leader, having won it six times, while Michael Jordan and Bill Russell each won five.

The widest gap in voting game after the 1999-2000 season, when Shaquille O'Neal earned 120 of 121 first-place votes to win the award by 799 points. Philadelphia 76ers guard Allen Iverson was given the other first-place vote.

List of Denver Nuggets MVP Winners

A Nuggets player has won the NBA MVP Award three times, but it was the same man all three times. Jokic has won it three of the past four seasons. He took home the award in 2021, 2022, and 2024, while finishing second to Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid in 2023.

Jokic is a finalist again in 2025 and will almost certainly finish in the top two alongside Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

While Jokic is the only Denver player to win the award, he isn't the only Nugget to get close. In 1978 David Thompson finished in third place, while Alex English finished third in 1983.

Player Profiles

Nikola Jokic

The three seasons in which Jokic won the MVP award were among the best in NBA history for a center.

During the 2020-21 campaign, he averaged 26.4 points, 10.8 rebounds, and 8.3 assists per game, shooting 56.6% from the field, 38.8% from three-point range, and 86.8% from the free throw line.

He followed that up during the 2021-22 season by averaging 27.1 points, 13.8 rebounds and 7.9 assists per contest, while shooting 58.3% from the field, 33.7% from three-point range, and 81.0% from the free throw line.

After missing out on the award in 2023, he bounced back during the 2023-24 season to win again. He averaged 26.4 points, 12.4 rebounds, and 9.0 assists per game. He shot 58.3% from the field, 35.9% from three-point range, and 81.7% from the free throw line.

Jokic's all-court versatility has made him a perennial MVP candidate and he has seemed to get better with age. During the 2024-25 campaign he set career-highs in points (29.6), assists (10.2) and steals (1.8) per game, while shooting a career-best 41.7% from three-point range.

We'll see if he can add to Denver's trophy case in 2025.