Troy Renck: They have gone from strangers to brothers. From unknowns to champions. Watching Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray win their 400th game together last week, the most by any duo since they began playing together in the 2016-17 season, it served as a reminder to be grateful. Colorado sports has rarely had a better combination. But there is an individual honor looming for Jokic that inevitably collides with controversy, that could determine the fate of this season. It is time to ask: Could Jokic not winning the MVP award serve as a catalyst for winning another NBA championship?

Sean Keeler: Please, voters. We’re begging you, here. Make the Joker mad. Make him motivated. Make his teammates motivated. Remind him he’s not good enough. Go on. Do it. Because my folk memory of a cheesed-off Jokic in the spring of 2023, having been robbed of deserved MVP honors in favor of Joel Embiid, is him taking it out on every team the Nuggets came across during the playoffs that year. In 20 postseason games in ’23, the Joker produced 10 triple-doubles. In his prior 48 playoff tilts, he’d put up six triple-doubles combined. So, yeah. Please. Snub away, baby.

Renck: When voters robbed Jokic in the 2022-23 season, he wrote a diary of havoc in the postseason. He averaged 30 points, 13.5 rebounds, 9.5 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.0 blocks as the Nuggets won their only NBA crown. Watching Jokic last week, there is a chance he could do it again, even as Aaron Gordon (calf tightness) deals with another injury. Jokic has regained his groove. He called his play “inconsistent” after returning from a knee injury, and he is correct. He turned the ball over too much. His rhythm has returned when surrounded by the original starting lineup. So, while he is likely to finish outside the top two in the MVP voting for the first time since the 2019-20 season, there is nothing preventing him from winning the Finals’ top prize.

Keeler: Nothing at all. And you can call it a small sample size, but it’s probably not a coincidence that end-of-regular-season rest has at least some correlation to Jokic’s early playoff performances, too. Over the previous four Aprils (’22, ’23, ’24, ’25), only once has the Joker played fewer than four regular-season games in the month of April. Guess what? That was 2023 — two games played (out of a possible five) at just 25.5 minutes per contest. In ’22? Four April regular-season games, 38 minutes per tilt. In ’24? Seven April games, 35.7 minutes per tilt. In ’25? Six April games, 39.7 minutes per tilt. No wonder the tank looked empty at times.

Renck: It is a tradition unlike any other — Colorado writers making a case for Jokic to win MVP every April. Not this time. Jokic has a strong case for his offensive prowess, but missing 16 games will prevent him from overtaking Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama, leaving him likely third, ahead of the Lakers’ Luka Doncic. I don’t vote, but would lean in Wembanyama’s direction because of his impact on both ends of the floor. A fourth MVP would shove Jokic into a club with only five current members. He no longer needs it. Everyone recognizes his greatness. He will end up as a top-10 player of all-time, and winning another title would go a long way in cementing that argument during a revenge tour of OKC and San Antonio.

Keeler: You want to talk about exclusive clubs? Only three true centers in NBA history finished their career with at least three MVP awards and multiple league titles, and they’re massive names: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain. Jokic is only one title away from joining that pantheon, which is mind-blowing in and of itself. But ask another former big-man great, Moses Malone (three MVPs, one championship, just how hard that second title is to get. So let SGA and Wemby win the individual honors. It’s the wins you rack up in May that mean more.