NBA unveils award finalists for 2024-25 season - ESPN

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 who is looking to become the third player — 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 to 1986.

The only question is whether Jokic — who averaged 29.6 points, 12.7 rebounds and 10.2 assists this season to join Russell Westbrook and Oscar Robertson as the only players to average a triple-double for a season — will finish first or Gilgeous-Alexander will earn his first MVP award.

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 in the NBA since the Golden State Warriors set the record with 73 victories in 2016 — and finished atop the last two versions of ESPN's MVP Straw Poll.

Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo joined Jokic and Gilgeous-Alexander as an MVP finalist. Antetokounmpo has finished in the top four in MVP voting for seven consecutive seasons, including winning the award in 2019 and 2020.

Perhaps this year's most interesting award is for the Defensive Player of the Year. San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama was a virtual lock to win it but is ineligible after he was ruled out for the season because of a deep vein thrombosis diagnosis in February.

Clevelan