Jan. 30, 2026, 8:00 p.m. CT
The MVP race received some intrigue on Friday. Besting most folks’ ballpark timetable, Nikola Jokic is back only one month after he suffered a gnarly-looking injury in the Denver Nuggets‘ loss to the Miami Heat. The three-time MVP avoided disaster when he was diagnosed with a knee sprain.
When Jokic’s month-plus absence was announced, most thought it’d knock him out of the MVP race. To qualify for the prestigious award, you must play at least 65 games. The recently-added regular-season rule has been a controversial one.
Jokic’s injury was the latest example. Well, all those think pieces can be trashed. He returns with two games to spare. The Nuggets went 10-6 in his absence. They’ve stayed in third place. Now, he returns with some wiggle room in case he’s forced to miss more time in the next couple of months.
Of course, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has been the runaway favorite to win the MVP. We were on the cusp of the third part of an epic trilogy. Jokic was the MVP two seasons with Gilgeous-Alexander as runner-up. Both players switched spots last season as Gilgeous-Alexander brought home the award in one of the more complete seasons in NBA history.
Now, Gilgeous-Alexander remains the heavy favorite. Even if Jokic plays the rest of the season, the games played difference will be too large to ignore. Plus, he’ll realistically miss some time as he continues to recover from a knee sprain. Denver has already said he’ll be in a minutes restriction.
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It’s Gilgeous-Alexander’s award to lose. But the fact that Jokic has returned already shows there’s room for him to lose it. A sudden change when the MVP race was an open and shut case once he went down in Miami. Four matchups between the Thunder and Nuggets could change the narrative one way or the other.