We Now Know Who Left Nikola Jokic Off Their MVP Ballot And His Name Is Mark Jackson

Mitchell Leff. Getty Images.

When the NBA MVP voting results came out, there was something that didn't quite add up

Not that Embiid won in a landslide, he had an incredible year and was more than deserving. But doing the math, knowing that there were 100 ballots, when you looked at the voting total it was pretty obvious what stood out with Jokic's total

15+52+32=99

That meant that someone left Nikola Jokic off his ballot entirely. At the time, I figured it was just a Philly beat reporter who was doing everything they could to help their guy win. You can't hate on that, the game is the game. 

The beauty of this is the NBA releases all the voter results, and we now know who that person was

On some level, this shouldn't be a surprise. And while I appreciate that he thought Tatum was worthy of being 3rd, what the hell is that ballot. It was already insane to even try and justify Nikola Jokic not being on your ballot, but to have SGA and Mitchell in it over him? I would honestly love to hear Mark Jackson try and explain this. 

Honestly, it might be enough to strip him of his vote if he's clearly not going to take it seriously. That's a larger issue if we're being honest as there are plenty of examples of media guys turning in ballots with certain narratives or agendas at work. I just don't know how we can sit here and give people votes if they truly believe NIKOLA JOKIC was not one of the 5 most valuable players in the league this season. That doesn't mean SGA and Mitchell didn't have great years, which is why they were rewarded with All NBA spots. But was either guy more valuable than Jokic? Absolutely not.

Meanwhile, we know Jokic doesn't care and has bigger goals in mind. He's been beyond dominant in this series against the Suns

and now enters Game 6 with a chance to punch the Nuggets ticket to the WCF in a game that Deandre Ayton has been ruled out of. I need Van Gundy and Mike Breen to ask Jackson about his ballot live on air though. I need to hear his reasoning.