In recent years, the most valuable players in the National Basketball Association have become exclusively European players. Serbian Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic won the MVP awards in the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 seasons, and even earlier, the Greek Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo made a kind of double. By chance, this season, among the contenders for the title of the best NBA player, there are also 3 Europeans and one African at once, who is also about to receive European citizenship. Of course, basketball players from the USA are also fighting for a prestigious award and have high chances, but today we will talk about European players who can become MVP 2023.

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Joel Embiid (Philadelphia 76ers, Cameroon/France)

Let’s start with the player who, according to bookmakers, has the least chance of MVP, but who is in the TOP-10 contenders. Philadelphia’s center finished 2nd in last year’s MVP voting. Seasonally, he averaged 30.6 points per game, becoming the first international player to win the league’s top scorer title and the first center since 1981-82 to average 30 points or more in a season.

The Cameroonian is one of the best players in the NBA. Most bookmakers before the start of the season considered Joel the second favorite after Doncic, but after about a third of the matches played, the situation changed somewhat. Embiid is having a strong season and has had a lot of great games already, including 59 points against Utah and 53 points against Orlando. If the Cameroonian can go the distance without injury, then he will clearly return to the TOP-3 contender.

Nikola Jokic (Denver Nuggets, Serbia)

The odds look high, and the current two-time MVP could become the fourth player in NBA history to win three MVP awards in a row. Jokic set a unique record last season with at least 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 500 assists in a season.

Jokic is not just one of the best players on his team, he is considered the greatest European basketball player and recently signed the biggest contract in NBA history. This deal will net him over $250 million over the next 5 years. Nicola is a future Hall of Famer with an incredible amount of personal honors.

However, despite a pretty good start to the season from Jokic, bookmakers believe that the Serbian center will not be able to win the award for the third time in a row, no matter how he performs this season. Due to the return of Nuggets point guard Jamal Murray and forward Michael Porter Jr., Nikola’s statistics have deteriorated slightly, and therefore, he is now not in the top 3 contenders for the MVP. However, this season Jokic has already shown incredible matches, therefore, the possibility of awakening in the Serbian zeal for individual awards cannot be ruled out. In its current form, the Denver center has been and will be an MVP candidate, including this season.

Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee Bucks, Greece)

The former two-time MVP spent the summer playing for Greece at EuroBasket and gradually ramped up the pre-season. In the 2021/22 season, Antetokounmpo became the first player in league history to average 25 points or more, 10 rebounds and 5 assists in four separate seasons. Considering the fact that Milwaukee is traditionally fighting for first place in the Conference, and Giannis’s statistics do not fall, it is not surprising that he is the second most valuable player of the season in the bookmakers.

At the moment, the Milwaukee forward is averaging 31.1 points, 11.3 rebounds, 5.4 assists, 0.9 steals and 1.0 blocks per game. Elite statistics worthy of the title of the best.

Luka Doncic (Dallas Mavericks, Slovenia)

Luka Doncic is currently the favorite in the race and is just slightly ahead of Giannis Antetokounmpo in the fight. Doncic is a superstar in the making. Despite being only 23 years old, the Slovenian point guard is regarded as one of the league’s biggest stars. Analysts agree that even after this season, Luca will still be in contention for the MVP award. Last season, Doncic was selected to the NBA First Team. He thus became only the third player in NBA history to join the first team three times in his first four seasons.

This season, Luka averages 36.8 minutes on the court, averaging an astounding 32.9 points, 8.5 rebounds, 8.8 assists, 1.8 steals and 0.7 blocks. If the Slovenian continues to play at the same pace and can lead Dallas to the Playoffs, then the question of who to give the MVP award will disappear by itself.