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Tim Bontemps
The NBA unveiled the three finalists for each of its seven major individual awards for the 2024-25 regular season Sunday night, with Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic and Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander headlining the finalists for the league’s Most Valuable Player award.
Jokic, a three-time MVP winner who is looking to become the third player ever — along with LeBron James and Bill Russell — to win four MVPs in five years, is virtually assured of finishing in the top two of voting for the league’s top individual honor for a fifth straight season. It’s the first time anyone has accomplished that feat since Larry Bird did it from 1981-86.
The only question is whether Jokic — who finished with averages of 29.6 points, 12.7 rebounds and 10.2 assists this season to become the third-player, and first non-point guard, to average a triple-double for a season (alongside Russell Westbrook and Oscar Robertson) — will finish first or if Gilgeous-Alexander will earn his first MVP award instead.
The Thunder superstar, who led the league in scoring with 32.7 points per game, led Oklahoma City to a franchise-record 68 wins — the most by any team since the Golden State Warriors set the record with 73 victories back in 2016 — and finished atop the last two versions of ESPN’s MVP Straw Poll.
Joining Jokic and Gilgeous-Alexander as an MVP finalist is Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, who has now finished inside the top four in MVP voting for seven consecutive seasons, including winning the award in both 2019 and ’20.
Perhaps the most interesting award on the entire ballot this year is Defensive Player of the Year, which went from being virtually assured of going to San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama to becoming completely wide open after the second-year phenom was ruled out for the season after a deep vein thrombosis diagnosis in February.
Ultimately, the finalists for the award were Cleveland Cavaliers forward Evan Mobley, Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green and Atlanta Hawks wing Dyson Daniels.
Mobley had a breakout season of his own, making the All-Star team for the first time and likely earning his first All-NBA selection while averaging 18.5 points, 9.3 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game. Green, on the other hand, was part of a resurgent Warriors team down the stretch after acquiring Jimmy Butler at the trade deadline. He finished with at least one block and one steal per game for the seventh time in his career.
Meanwhile, Daniels led the league with 229 steals — the most by any player in decades.
Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham, coming off making his first All-Star team this season, was one of the three finalists for this year’s Most Improved Player award, along with LA Clippers center Ivica Zubac and Daniels, who took on a much bigger role this year with the Hawks after being acquired from the New Orleans Pelicans in the Dejounte Murray trade last summer.
Zubac set career highs in virtually every category this season for the Clippers, including points (16.8) and rebounds (12.6) while Cunningham averaged 26.1 points, 6.1 rebounds and 9.1 assists.
Atlanta Hawks forward Zaccharie Risacher, the number one overall pick in last June’s NBA draft, was one of the finalists for the Rookie of the Year award, joined by San Antonio Spurs guard Stephon Castle and Memphis Grizzlies guard Jaylen Wells.
Risacher averaged 12.6 points for Atlanta, while Castle averaged 14.7 points and 4.1 assists for the Spurs and Wells, a second round pick, was a starter the vast majority of the season for Memphis before suffering a season-ending broken wrist earlier this month after a rough fall in a game against the Charlotte Hornets.
Boston Celtics guard Payton Pritchard, meanwhile, was a finalist for the league’s Sixth Man of the Year award, where he was joined by Cleveland Cavaliers guard Ty Jerome and Detroit Pistons guard Malik Beasley.
Pritchard was one of the most consistent players on the defending champion Celtics this season, averaging 14.3 points and shooting 40.7% from 3. Beasley was the only player in the top 20 in 3-point attempts per game to shoot over 40%, hitting 41.6% on the season, and averaging 16.4 points for the resurgent Pistons. Jerome, who missed virtually all of last season for the Cavaliers due to injuries, had a stellar season for Cleveland off the bench, averaging 12.5 points per game while shooting 51.6% overall and 43.9% from 3-point range.
The Coach of the Year finalists had an interesting wrinkle to them this year, as Cleveland Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson — and the man he replaced, Detroit Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff — were two of the three finalists. The other was Houston Rockets coach Ime Udoka.
All three teams vastly outstripped their preseason expectations. Cleveland won its first 15 games and led the Eastern Conference from wire-to-wire, winning 64 games — the second-most in franchise history. Detroit, meanwhile, more than tripled its win total this season — something that hadn’t been done before in NBA history. And Houston went from missing the play-in last year to being the second seed in the loaded Western Conference with an exceedingly young roster.
New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson led the finalists for this year’s Clutch Player of the Year award and was joined by both Jokic and Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards.
The NBA will announce each of the individual award winners — as well as the selections for the All-NBA, All-Defense and All-Rookie teams — over the next couple of weeks.
