Kevin Hart was back on ESPN2 on Wednesday night with his NBA Unplugged with Kevin Hart altcast as the Dallas Mavericks took on the Miami Heat in South Beach.
During a segment with special guest Cedric the Entertainer, the topic of Nuggets star Nikola Jokic winning his third NBA MVP trophy came up. Hart not only said he did not think Jokic was deserving of the award, a perfectly reasonable take, but went so far as to say Jokic winning would be “bad for the NBA.”
“They cannot give the Joker any more MVPs,” Hart said of Jokic. “It’s not good for the NBA. Joker cannot win another MVP.”
Kevin Hart: "They cannot give [Nikola Jokic] any more MVPs… It's not good for the NBA."
Cedric the Entertainer: "[Joker] is having a great year, but it doesn't feel like that dominant year the way I would say [Shai Gilgeous-Alexander] is."pic.twitter.com/Jmc5aXblqN
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) April 11, 2024
Cedric the Entertainer agreed.
“The league MVP, I feel like you’re right, they can’t really do that at this moment,” Cedric said. “He’s having a great year, but it doesn’t feel like that dominant year the way (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander) is.”
Later on the broadcast, Cedric explained that he believed Jokic deserved his previous MVPs in 2021 and 2022. Cedric and Hart are apparently just that high on the season Gilgeous-Alexander has had, but they did not do a great job explaining why it would be so terrible for the league to give Jokic a third.
In a recent “straw poll” from ESPN NBA reporter Tim Bontemps, 85 out of 100 reporters around the league said they would vote for Jokic for MVP.
Last season, Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid won his first MVP in a narrow race with Jokic. Analysts including ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins brought racial identity into the conversation, while others accused Jokic of padding his stats and more.
As with so much around the NBA, it can feel impossible to make the discussion merely about the sport. The fact that Cedric and Hart had detailed opinions about Gilgeous-Alexander, who plays in one of the league’s smallest markets, would appear to mean they are true fans of the league. It was a missed opportunity for them not to elaborate on their take here.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.