Nikola Jokic Has Never Been Tested Like This

Getty Images/Ringer illustration The Denver Nuggets star just won his third Most Valuable Player award. He also faces perhaps the most daunting task of his career, down 0-2 to the hungry Minnesota Timberwolves. Can Jokic lift his team back into the series? On Wednesday, Nikola Jokic became the ninth player in NBA history to win at least three MVP awards, joining a coterie of basketball legends: LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, and Moses Malone. Look at those names! It's stunning company. Now consider that this was Jokic's third MVP in four years, and in the one season he didn't take home the league's most prestigious individual honor, he came in second and ended up winning his first Finals MVP. It's a ridiculous stretch of dominance. At 29 years old, Jokic has the highest regular-season and postseason PER on record; he's a mountainous efficiency machine who doubles as an all-time passer, strategist, and symbol of selfless basketball. But this MVP comes at an awkward time, with Jokic's Denver Nuggets down 0-2 against a ravenous Minnesota Timberwolves team that was constructed to humble them. This series...