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The NBA MVP award is the highest individual honor a player can achieve. The MVP race has been dominated by foreign players over the last five years.
Greece's Giannis Antetokounmpo started that trend after collecting back-to-back MVPs in 2019 and 2020, followed by Serbian international Nikola Jokic, who also won consecutively in 2021 and 2022.
Philadelphia 76ers' Cameroonian center Joel Embiid claimed the honors last season. The race is expected to be tight, especially in the initial stages, similar to the previous two years.
The NBA is stacked with talent at the moment. There is seemingly no definitive answer when there's a conversation about title favorites, MVP favorites and other top accolades.
The past few MVP races have come down to the wire, and fans can expect nothing less next season.
Here's a way-too-early list of the top five favorites for the 2023-24 NBA MVP award:
#5 Jayson Tatum
Boston Celtics All-Star forward Jayson Tatum was arguably the best player on the best team when the 2022-23 NBA season started. He seemed like the runaway favorite to win the MVP award. However, the Celtics eventually hit a slump, and so did Tatum, which plummeted his stock.
Tatum still finished fourth, his best ranking for the award to date. Tatum racked up 280 points but had zero first-place votes. Nevertheless, the 25-year-old has improved every year in his young career, so it wouldn't be surprising to see him lift the coveted award next year.
#4 Giannis Antetokounmpo
Two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo has been a legitimate candidate since the last time he claimed the honor. He finished fourth in 2021, the year he won a championship, and third in three consecutive years since then.
Antetokounmpo's best chance was last season when he guided the Milwaukee Bucks to a league-best 58-24 record.
Giannis averaged a career-high 31.1 points, 11.8 rebounds and 5.7 assists per game. However, it wasn't enough, as voters deemed Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid the better candidates. The "Greek Freak" saw his efforts overshadowed once again.
If he keeps up his performances and leads the Bucks to a top-three finish in the conference, there's a solid chance he wins his third MVP.
#3 Joel Embiid
Reigning MVP Joel Embiid got his flowers when he won the 2023 MVP honors after finishing a close second to Nikola Jokic the previous two years. Embiid won his second successive scoring title, averaging 33.1 points a game.
However, the new CBA rule that only makes players who have played 65 games or more eligible for the MVP honors has jeopardized Embiid's chances of repeating. Additionally, the Philadelphia 76ers' playoff debacle is fresh on voters' minds.
Nevertheless, it is still a regular-season award, and Embiid has been a top-three performer in that setting for multiple years. If he can maintain that and dominate both ends of the court, his prospects of becoming a back-to-back MVP remain promising.
#2 Luka Doncic
Luka Doncic opened as one of the hot favorites to win the NBA MVP award last season. He also played like one, tallying 30+ points in each of his first nine games.
Doncic maintained his 30 points per game average, but injury issues later in the year, along with Dallas Mavericks dropping out of the playoffs race, hampered his shot at winning the MVP award.
Doncic has a solid team around him for next year, with co-star Kyrie Irving as his backcourt pairing and other pieces like Grant Williams, Seth Curry and Richaun Holmes on board.
If the Mavs finish top four, with Doncic averaging 30 a game once again, he can make a good case to claim his maiden MVP honors.
#1 Nikola Jokic
Nikola Jokic proved he is the best player in the NBA, even if that's something he didn't set out to prove. He arguably didn't have to after winning successive MVP awards.
Jokic instead focused on the playoffs and ensured the season ended with him claiming his first ring and Finals MVP.
The Serbian nearly averaged a triple-double last year, a milestone only two other players, Russell Westbrook (four times) and Oscar Robertson, have achieved.
Considering his dominance this past year, Jokic is again in the running as the top favorite to claim the MVP honors.
