Sports World Crushes ESPN’s Mark Jackson for Leaving Nikola Jokic Off of MVP Ballot

Fans let the ESPN analyst have it after finding out he left a notable player off his ballot.

The NBA released the voting ballots for this year’s MVP award Thursday and fans were finally able to see who the lone voter was that didn’t include Nuggets center Nikola Jokić on their ballot. The culprit was none other than ESPN’s Mark Jackson and fans let him have it online. 

The former Warriors coach and current ESPN broadcaster was the sole voter who didn’t place the reigning two-time MVP among his top five candidates for the award this year. In order, Jackson went with Joel Embiid, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jayson Tatum, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Donovan Mitchell for his ballot. 

Jackson was the only voter to not have some combination of Embiid, Antetokounmpo and Jokić in their top three as well. Embiid went on to win the award, as announced last week.

Jokić has won the last two MVP awards and finished this past season averaging almost a triple double with 24.5 points, 11.8 rebounds and 9.8 assists per game. He also led the Nuggets to the top seed in the Western Conference. 

Naturally, the sports world crushed Jackson once they learned he was the voter who didn’t have Jokić on their ballot. Here’s what Twitter had to say: