Jokic named MVP

Nikola Jokic did it all again. And the MVP trophy is his again.

Jokic, the Denver Nuggets star from Serbia, was announced Wednesday night as the NBA’s Most Valuable Player, topping Canada’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder in the voting.

It was the third time Jokic has won the award in the past four seasons, a feat that just six other players in league history have accomplished.

He averaged 26.4 points, 12.4 rebounds and 9.0 assists. Others averaged more in each category -- and Jokic has had better years in each of those categories -- but he was the only player to rank in the NBA’s top 10 in points, rebounds and assists per game this season.

Gilgeous-Alexander, from Hamilton, Ont., was ahead of Dallas’ Luka Doncic as both got into the top three of MVP voting for the first time. With Jokic from Serbia, Gilgeous-Alexander from Canada and Doncic from Slovenia,

it marked the third consecutive season that three players born outside the U.S. finished 1-2-3 in the MVP balloting.

This time, the foreign dominance atop the NBA was even more pronounced: Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is from Greece, was fourth -- so this became the first time in the award’s 69-year history that international players went 1-2-34 in the voting. It also became the sixth consecutive year that a player born outside the U.S. won the award.

New York’s Jalen Brunson was fifth.

“Some people say it’s the best player on the best team,” Jokic said, when asked to define an MVP. “To me, it’s the guy who’s the most valuable, the team couldn’t play without him.”

Jokic got 79 of a possible 99 first-place votes from the panel of reporters and broadcasters who cast ballots on awards when the regular season ended.

“It’s got to start with your teammates,” Jokic said on TNT, where the award was announced.