Last summer it was Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic leading the Denver Nuggets to the Western Conference finals in the NBA bubble. Murray exploded in the playoffs, averaging 26.5 points, including two incredible 50-point games. Jokic was budding into the MVP-caliber player we all witnessed this season, recording 10 double-doubles and going toe-to-toe with Anthony Davis.
Fast forward to this year’s playoffs and it’s a significantly different story. Murray went down with a season-ending ACL injury early in April. Jokic is still doing Jokic things and is the frontrunner for MVP this season.