2021-22 NBA midseason awards: Experts favor Nikola Jokic in crowded MVP race; Evan Mobley unanimous top rookie
CBSN
Our NBA team is all in agreement on two award winners, and split everywhere else
Depending on your perspective, the first half of the 2021-22 NBA season has either gone very quickly or very slowly, much like the last two years for most of us. COVID protocols and the omicron variant have caused a nightly game of roster roulette that has sometimes left fans wondering who's even on the court for their favorite team. Bill Reiter J.B. Bickerstaff Artūras Karnišovas Brad Botkin J.B. Bickerstaff Artūras Karnišovas Jasmyn Wimbish Billy Donovan Artūras Karnišovas Michael Kaskey-Blomain Billy Donovan Artūras Karnišovas Colin Ward-Henninger Steve Kerr Artūras Karnišovas Jack Maloney J.B. Bickerstaff Artūras Karnišovas James Herbert Erik Spoelstra Artūras Karnišovas Sam Quinn Billy Donovan Artūras Karnišovas
This has made the yearly awards races both more complex and simpler at the same time. On one hand, it's slightly harder to gauge player performance when teammates -- and sometimes the players themselves -- have been unable to get into rhythm due to all the absences. On the other hand, we don't really have to worry about penalizing players for a lack of games played, since pretty much all of them have missed a handful of contests during this strange season.
As a result, the midseason MVP picks among our CBS Sports NBA experts varied greatly, with four different players receiving votes: Nikola Jokic, Stephen Curry, Giannis Antetokounmpo and DeMar DeRozan. It speaks to the vacillating nature of the race that two of our experts (who will remain nameless) understandably changed their MVP votes at the last second. With the new tally, Jokic rightfully ended up as our midseason pick, as he's been perhaps the most consistent superstar in the NBA, leading the league in basically every meaningful efficiency metric while carrying the short-handed Nuggets to an above-.500 record.
