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Denver Nuggets · For the first time in three years Nikola Jokić did not win league MVP, which was just fine considering the Denver Nuggets won something much more valuable. That would be the franchise’s first championship, this time behind MVP runner-up Jokić, an All-NBA Second Team selection as well as an All-Star for the fifth time following a regular season in which he averaged 24.5 points, 11.8 rebounds and a career-best 9.8 assists per game. The Joker posted 29 regular season triple-doubles and another 10 in 20 postseason games while being named Western Conference Finals and NBA Finals MVP. He became the first player to ever lead a single postseason in total points, rebounds and assists. Jokić had plenty of help along the way as Jamal Murray returned from a major knee injury to average 20 points and 6.2 assists per game in the regular season — numbers that jumped to 26.1 and 7.1 in the postseason. Michael Porter Jr. and Aaron Gordon were also major contributors to an offensive unit that was rated fifth in the league. The Nuggets won a conference-leading 53 games, the first time in franchise history that the team earned the top seed in the West. Denver played dominant basketball in the postseason, running through the Minnesota Timberwolves, Phoenix Suns, Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat with relative ease to clinch the first title in the team’s 47-year history. · State of Mint