If You Don't Declare Yourself The NBA's MVP, Can You Even Be The MVP?

Maybe this is just recency bias, but have we ever had a year where so many guys were publicly declaring they were the real MVP and the one guy that is actually going to rightfully win the thing doesn't say anything? You have the two best players on the Sixers telling everyone who will listen that they are the DPOY and MVP which isn't all that surprising, you have Dame going on TV to try and get his narrative going, and then there's Steph saying "he's gotta be" the MVP

Uhh….no he doesn't. 

I go back to what I blogged the other day, it's OK that Jokic is going to win the MVP. He absolutely deserves it

I just find it interesting that while every other MVP candidate cannot stop talking about how they are the actual MVP, we hear crickets out of Jokic. Almost like he couldn't give two shits about it. You could argue Julius Randle should have more of a MVP case than someone like Curry, and we don't hear a peep out of him either. 

There's a chance my idiot brain simply doesn't remember what my timeline was like during some previous MVP races, I know the teams themselves campaign for their guys, but usually, I would think one of the guys doing the talking was ya know…actually going to win the thing. 

This isn't to say Embiid is wrong when he says he's been dominant. He's been the most unstoppable force this season. But unfortunately, he got hurt. That stuff matters when there are so many legit candidates. I think Steph's run if he continues to keep it up (last night notwithstanding) could help him finish in the top 5, but the Warriors haven't won enough. Same with Dame. His run to carry the Blazers with everyone out was impressive as hell, but the Blazers are a potential play in team after their current skid. Jokic has been historically dominant, the Nuggets have now won 4 straight since Murray got hurt, and Jokic has been carrying that team all season long.

It's almost like if you have to call yourself the MVP, or DPOY or whatever then you actually aren't one of those things. I get that these guys are in most cases asked that question and nobody is going to flat out say they aren't the MVP so it's a tricky situation, I just find it interesting. 

I would love for someone to now ask Jokic this question and see what he says. It wouldn't shock me if he avoided the question and just talked about getting wins down the stretch for the playoffs. 

We're inching very close to a situation where people think if you declare yourself the MVP then that means you win the MVP. Sadly, that's not how things work