Presumptive MVP Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets were eliminated in the first round of the NBA playoffs. Here’s a look at the other MVPs who failed to make it out of Round 1.
Has the NBA MVP ever failed to make it out of the first round of the playoffs?
Jokic wouldn’t be the first MVP to be eliminated from the postseason this early. But he would be joining pretty rare company. Since the first round was introduced with the expansion from eight to 10 total playoff teams in 1975, an MVP has failed to make it past Round 1 just four times. The same player actually accounted for the first two times it happened. Moses Malone captured his first MVP in 1978-79 before the No. 4 Houston Rockets were upset by the No. 5 Atlanta Hawks 2-0 in a best-of-three Round 1. Malone’s second MVP season ended in a first-round exit as well, with the No. 6 Rockets falling 2-1 to the No. 3 Seattle SuperSonics in the 1982 playoffs. and went much further than Round 1, leading Philadelphia to a championship.
There have only been two MVPs who lost in Round 1 since first-round byes were done away with in 1984 -- both within the past 20 years. MVP Dirk Nowitzki and the
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