Has the MVP Award become the 'Madden' curse of the NBA?

Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic joined elite company this past week when he was named NBA MVP for the third time in four years. Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the only other center to accomplish that feat, winning his three from 1973-1977.

Now Jokic will try to avoid joining elite company in a different, far less desirable, MVP grouping.

An MVP has not won the NBA championship in the same year they won the award since Stephen Curry in 2015. In fact, Curry is the last MVP to even reach the NBA Finals, when he did so the following season in 2016.

If the Nuggets fail to win the NBA championship this year, after just doing so last season, the drought will extend to a record-setting nine years without the MVP winning the championship in the same season.

There have been two separate eight-year droughts, holding the record for the time being: 2004-2011 and 1972-1979 (coincidentally including Abdul-Jabbar's three MVPs in a four-year stretch).

Much like the cover of the "Madden" video game seemed to be a curse for NFL players, maybe the MVP has now become a curse in the NBA.

The last four MVPs all lost in the second round, including Jokic in both 2021 and 2022. The last MVP to exceed the second round was Giannis Antetokounmpo, when his Milwaukee Bucks reached the 2019 Eastern Conference Finals, before falling to the Toronto Raptors, the eventual NBA champions.

If the Nuggets can't come back to win their series against the Minnesota Timberwolves, it would mark five straight MVPs failing to get past the second round, which would also be the longest drought in NBA history.

Jokic is the ninth player to win three MVPs in NBA history, but seven of the other eight won multiple championships. Moses Malone is the lone outlier, but he did at least play in multiple NBA Finals. 

Jokic is trying to reach his second NBA Finals, but the Nuggets enter Sunday's Game 4 trailing in their series with Minnesota, 2-1.

While he has already made history this month, if the Nuggets can't rally, Jokic will make some infamous history too.