‘He was paid to act excited’: Fans poke fun at Jokic’s lackluster reaction to MVP award
DENVER (KDVR) — Nikola Jokic won the NBA Most Valuable Player award for the third time on Wednesday, becoming the ninth player in history to do so. The Denver Nuggets posted a video of Jokic’s celebration showing his “excitement.”
The Nuggets posted a video on TikTok showing Jokic partly raising his arms and shaking his wrists with a grin. All he said was, “Excited.”
His seemingly muted reaction didn’t go unnoticed by NBA fans.
How excited was Jokic, really?
After the Nuggets posted the video on TikTok, fans didn’t miss a beat.
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“I think he was paid to act ‘excited,'” said one user on TikTok.
“Was that him trying to convince us he’s excited,” said another user.
“Man looks like he just won employee of the month at King Soopers,” commented another.
But people weren’t necessarily surprised by his reaction, as even the Nuggets’ posted the video with the caption, “In true Nikola fashion.”
While the first video posted didn’t capture much of a reaction other than Jokic’s cool and collected personality, Jokic was seen in another video on Wednesday tearing up to a video of his “unlikely” story of becoming the Most Valuable Player in the NBA.
Despite the heartwarming follow-up video and a third video of Jokic thanking the team, coaches media and “this guy” (referring to Jamal Murray in the video) for the support, that didn’t stop the running jokes about the three-time MVP.
The Jokic jokes continue
Running jokes about Jokic dates back to last year’s playoffs when the Joker showed his initial dismay that the championship parade was three days later, delaying his travel home.
As far as his reaction to the MVP award, some fans think that, like last year, he just wants to leave.
“He said ‘job is done I want to go home,'” commented one used on TikTok.
“He’s like ‘two more losses and I get to go home,'” commented another.
Meanwhile, others were poking fun at his love for horses, as he’s been spotted many times attending horse races and heading to the horse track.
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“He just wants to race horses,” commented a TikTok user.
One viewer even said Jokic would trade his MVP trophy for a horse if he could.
While some fans commented on the Joker’s lackluster reaction to the award, others were more focused on who the MVP award went to.
Fans want different MVP
While many fans were cheering Jokic on in the comments and celebrating the Nuggets’ MVP, based on other TikTok comments, some fans believe the award should’ve gone to Dallas Mavericks’ Luka Doncic or Oklahoma City Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
But many of these negative comments were related to Jokic’s performance in the last two games, where the Minnesota Timberwolves are leading the series.
“We getting the brooms now or what,” one user commented on the team’s TikTok.
“OK now play like one in Game 3 because 2 was atrocious,” commented another.
Jokic still has some time to prove his MVP title. The Nuggets have two games this weekend on Friday and Sunday, where they have to pull out at least one win to continue in the series.
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