“I think this year unfortunately has just taken a really ugly, nasty turn in the MVP conversation, and I think it’s really turned a lot of people off, including him,” Michael Malone said of Nikola Jokic. “And what’s happening now is there’s so many guys that could win the MVP this year — great candidates. Joel Embiid is a great candidate. Luka Doncic is a great candidate. Jayson Tatum — whoever you want to put in that mix, those are all deserving. But what happens in today’s society is that everybody — it’s like when I was a college coach — all the negative recruiting, it’s not promoting my guy, it’s ripping down every other guy. And that’s just ridiculous.”