Current NBA MVP Standings and Top Candidates
The 2024 NBA Most Valuable Player award is currently led by Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets, who has secured his third MVP title in four seasons with career averages of 26.4 points, 12.4 rebounds, and 9.0 assists per game. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder ranks second in MVP voting after leading the league in scoring with 30.1 points per game and guiding his team to a 57-win regular season, according to the latest NBA official awards tracker NBA Official Awards Page. Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics and Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks round out the top tier of the 2024 MVP race, with Tatum averaging 26.9 points per game and Giannis posting 30.4 points and 11.5 rebounds per contest.
Historical MVP comparisons place Jokic among the centers with the highest career Player Efficiency Rating at 27.2, surpassing Hall of Famers like Wilt Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in modern advanced metrics. The NBA's Most Valuable Player award voting is conducted by a panel of 100 U.S. and Canadian sportswriters and broadcasters, with first-place votes weighted at 10 points, second-place at seven, and third-place at five, as outlined in the league's official awards procedures NBA Awards Procedures. The 2024 MVP winner will be announced after the regular season concludes, with the award based on a player's statistical dominance, team success, and leadership impact across 82 regular-season games.
Career Earnings and Financial Impact of MVP Players
Nikola Jokic signed a five-year, $276 million supermax extension with the Denver Nuggets in 2022, making him one of the highest-paid players in NBA history with an average annual salary exceeding $55 million. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander signed a five-year, $172 million maximum contract extension with the Oklahoma City Thunder in the summer of 2023, placing him among the top earners in the league based on current salary cap rules Forbes NBA Contracts Analysis. Giannis Antetokounmpo's five-year, $228 million supermax deal with the Milwaukee Bucks, signed in 2020, guarantees him an average annual salary of $45.6 million through the 2025-26 season.
MVP-level players generate significant off-court revenue through endorsement deals, with Jokic's partnership with Nike and Gilgeous-Alexander's deal with New Balance contributing to their total annual earnings. The NBA's salary cap for the 2023-24 season was set at $136.021 million, with the luxury tax threshold at $165.250 million, directly impacting how teams construct rosters around MVP-caliber talent NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement. The best basketball players in the league typically earn between $40 million and $55 million in total annual compensation when combining guaranteed salary and estimated endorsement income, according to Forbes' latest NBA earnings reports.
Advanced Metrics That Define the Best Basketball Players
Modern MVP evaluations rely heavily on advanced statistics such as Box Plus-Minus, Value Over Replacement Player, and True Shooting Percentage, with Jokic leading the 2024 MVP