Horse racing enthusiast wins NBA MVP: Best memes, tweets celebrating Nikola Jokic

What was assumed for a while has now become reality. Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic has won the 2023-24 MVP Award. He edges out Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic for the win.

Jokic has now won his third MVP award with all three coming in the last four seasons. The only year he didn't win saw him finish as the runner-up to Joel Embiid. Not too shabby for a former second-round pick.

He averaged 26.4 points per game on 58.3/35.9/81.7 splits to go along with 12.4 rebounds and 9.0 assists. He averaged 1.4 steals and 0.9 blocks per game too. There are no weaknesses in his game.

Jokic becomes the ninth player in NBA history to win at least three MVPs, which is pretty unfathomable. It might not feel this way since he's only 29 years old and has many more prime years to go, but Jokic is already one of the best players in NBA history.

Nikola Jokic wins third MVP: Best memes, tweets celebrating the award win

No caption needed for this. Just watch.

This is a man who was drafted in the middle of a Quesarito commercial for Taco Bell. That's what the league thought of him. He was irrelevant. Now he's out here winning three MVP's in a four-year span.

Most NBA fans wanted a first-timer like Gilgeous-Alexander or Doncic to win the award, but in the end, the Joker is inevitable. It's his third win in the last four years, and with the way he's going he might have several more in him. Heck, an argument could be made that he should've won last season, too.

Prime LeBron James won four MVPs in a five-year stretch from 2009-2013. With another win next season, Jokic will match that. Considering how dominant LeBron was back then, again, this is hard to even fathom. Jokic is just at another level.

The Nuggets are in a tough spot right now, trailing 2-0 in their Western Conference Semifinals series with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Even if they lose that series, what Jokic has done despite playing without an All-Star teammate is extraordinary. He has Denver in the championship conversation annually, and his team won it last season.

Part of what makes Jokic so fun is it seems as if he isn't even trying out there. Obviously that's not the case, but he just plays the game with such ease. Would that be the case if the award was a horse? Perhaps we'd see another level unlocked, which would be terrifying for the rest of the NBA.