Annual NBA survey: OKC repeats, Jokic as MVP

The annual NBA.com survey of all 30 of the league’s front offices has tapped theOklahoma City Thunderto defend their title. Like in ESPN’s annual offseason survey last month, the Thunder were runaway favorites to win the title, with 80% general managers across the NBA picking OKC to win for a second straight year – which, if the Thunder are able to do so, would mark the first time since theGolden State Warriorsrepeated in 2018 that a team would manage to repeat as champions. TheCleveland CavaliersandDenver Nuggetseach got a couple of votes, while theHouston RocketsandNew York Knickseach received a single selection. The annual survey – which goes out to all 30 teams and doesn’t allow teams to pick themselves or anyone from their own rosters, meaning no player or team can ever get better than 97% of the vote in a category – also had Oklahoma City and Cleveland as the heavy favorites to win their respective conferences. Besides the Thunder – who were first on 87% of ballots, and second on the remaining 10% – the Nuggets received 10% of the first place votes and the Rockets received a single one. They were followed, in order, by theMinnesota Timberwolves, Warriors,LA Clippers,Los Angeles Lakers,Dallas MavericksandSan Antonio Spurs. In the East, Cleveland and New York both were unanimously selected to finish in the top three spots in the East, with the Cavaliers getting 63% of the first place, 27% of the second place and 7% of the third place votes. The Knicks, meanwhile, received 30%, 53% and 13%, respectively. The only other team to receive any first place votes was theOrlando Magic, who received 7%. The Magic were also picked to finish third overall, followed by theAtlanta Hawks,Detroit Pistons,Milwaukee Bucks,Philadelphia 76ersandBoston Celtics. Nuggets starNikola Jokic, who has finished first or second in the last five MVP ballots, was the runaway pick to win this year’s top individual honor, claiming 67 percent of the votes, while Spurs phenomVictor Wembanyamareceived 83% of the votes as the player GMs would pick if they had a chance to select anyone to start a franchise, making him the winner in that category for the second straight season. Rockets forwardAmen Thompson, meanwhile, received 30% of the votes in the “most likely to have a breakout season” category, which goes hand-in-hand with him being the current betting favorite to be this season’s Most Improved Player. There was little debate over who the best player is at any position, withShai Gilgeous-Alexander,Anthony Edwards,Luka Doncic,Giannis Antetokounmpoand Jokic claiming the honor at each position. The only one of the five positions to receive less than 70 percent of the vote for the top selection was small forward, where Doncic received 40%, followed byJayson Tatum(20),Kevin Durant(17),LeBron JamesandKawhi Leonard(7 each), withJaylen Brown, Jimmy Butler andJalen Williamseach getting a single vote.