Nikola Jokic’s MVP Win Led To People Remembering He Got Drafted During A Taco Bell Commercial

For the first time in modern NBA history, a second-round Draft pick is the league MVP. Nikola Jokic’s coronation as the top player in the Association for the 2020-21 season was capped off on Tuesday afternoon, when word leaked that the Denver Nuggets’ superstar would take home this season’s MVP award. While there were a number of other outstanding players this season, Jokic has been the obvious choice to take home the trophy for weeks.

The “first second-round pick to win MVP” distinction says a ton about Jokic’s game, the Nuggets’ scouting/developmental folks, and the fact that the best players don’t necessarily have to be taken in the first round. It also led to a number of people remembering the unique circumstance under which Jokic got drafted: while ESPN aired a Taco Bell commercial.

https://twitter.com/thehurryupnba/status/1402379549279727617

https://twitter.com/HoodieJP1/status/1402385912999432192

Very important: Imagine Kevin Harlan screaming “quesarito.” Ok, now that that’s out of the way, this is hardly a knock on ESPN or anything like that — you should not, under basically any circumstance, assume that a second-round selection is going to turn into a basketball god — more a funny reminder of how far Jokic has come. But having said that, Jokic didn’t catch everyone by surprise. Check out the date on this tweet:

As for how the laughing thing turned out…

Pretty accurate!