The list of players who have finished top 3 in points, rebounds, and assists in a single season is small. It’s so small, in fact, that it doesn’t exist. As of now, Nikola Jokic will be the first player in NBA history to accomplish this feat. SGA voters will point out that Shai is having a historic season for a guard—Jokic is having one of the most historic seasons we’ve ever seen, period.

But voter fatigue isn’t letting us fully appreciate it. Jokic is currently giving us the fourth best PER and BPM seasons in the history of the league. (Shai’s campaign doesn’t scratch the top ten in either stat.) He’s going to be just the third player to ever average a triple double for a season, and the first to lead in the three major counting stats. As they discussed on the Dan Le Batard show, when Jokic is on the floor, the Nuggets have the greatest offense in the history of the league, and the worst ever when he’s off.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DCm6wKHypER/?igsh=c3RleXFvbWZoa2du

Shai’s production just doesn’t compare. Jokic leads SGA by 4 assists and rebounds by almost 8. They have the same number of steals per game. Jokic leads Shai in PER, BPM, eFG%, TS%, 3PT%, and AST/TO ratio. Jokic leads the league in triple doubles, and has more than the next five players combined. There is one box stat in which SGA outperforms Jokic, and that’s scoring. But if you take a look at their assists, their on/off numbers, and their efficiency ratings, it’s easy to see who helps their team score more points when all is said and done. Shai is an offensive weapon, but Jokic is a system unto himself. He’s producing at a level unseen in the history of the league.

As Michael Malone and Draymond Green both put it: if we don’t give Jokic MVP, we’re going to look back at his stat lines and scratch our heads about it for decades. It’s the kind of thing fans will ask their parents about, the subject of reddit posts twenty years in the future. If you didn’t know Jokic had won 3 MVPs already, and put Jokic’s stats next to SGA’s, you’d pick Jokic’s lines over SGA’s every time. His combination of scoring, passing, rebounding, and stealing is in unparalleled in the league.

‍

SGA’s champions will point that he leads in some advanced stats, but only some. Jokic has him beat in just as many. Even then, advanced stats are only so useful. When two players have identical production, advanced metrics can help us better contextualize and understand the data. But we don’t need to do that when one player is so far in front of the other in counting stats. Jokic blows SGA out of the water in assists and rebounds. When you factor in the offense that his play produces, he more than makes up for the gap in scoring between the two. He should be the 2025 MVP.