The MVP award

Winner: Nikola Jokic — who never let up, ever, ever. You have to knock out the champ, you can’t win by decision.

Runner-up: Joel Embiid — nobody had a tougher year, and it was his best. In any other season, Embiid brought both the MVP narrative and the goods (30.2 points, 11.6 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.5 blocks, one steal in 33 minutes).

Don’t tell Charles Oakley but Giannis Antetokounmpo’s third-place 2021-22 was better than anything anyone from the Eighties save for those two months Shawn Kemp played in the year 1989:

We have other award selections.