Nikola Jokic has never been particularly excited to make basketball history.

When the Denver Nuggets superstar center accepted his first NBA Most Valuable Player Award in 2021, he was asked if he was looking forward to getting the ceremony over with. “To be honest, yes,” Jokic told reporters.

The next year, as Nuggets coach Michael Malone emphatically pushed for Jokic to win the league’s top individual honor, Jokic was asked what it would mean to win back-to-back MVPs. “I don’t know. It doesn’t mean anything special. I’m just trying to win basketball games,” he told reporters.

After Jokic led the Nuggets to the franchise’s first NBA championship in June, he matter-of-factly declared in his postgame interview with ESPN, “The job is done. We can go home now.”

Now — whether he wants to or not — Jokic is on his way to further cementing his place in the innermost circles of NBA history. The MVP award’s three-timer club boasts some of the greatest players in league history: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, whose six MVPs are the most ever; Bill Russell and Michael Jordan, who each won five; Wilt Chamberlain and LeBron James, who each won four; and Moses Malone, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, all of whom won three.

And in ESPN’s final NBA MVP straw poll of the 2023-24 season, Jokic has not only put himself in position to join that elite group, he has expanded what already was a comfortable lead.

Jokic claimed 85 out of 100 first-place votes to build a 327-point lead ahead of his closest rival, Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Since the NBA moved to its current voting format ahead of the 2016-17 season, one MVP has won by more than 300 points: Jokic in 2021.

Just like that 2020-21 campaign, an injury to Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid has changed the race. The reigning MVP fell out of contention this time after suffering a meniscus injury in his left knee on Jan. 30, limiting him to just 35 games so far, well short of the league’s new 65-game rule for major awards and All-NBA selections. (Embiid returned Tuesday night in a win against the Thunder.)

Jokic has continued his metronomic efficiency for the defending champion Nuggets, putting up 27.1 points, 13.1 rebounds and 9.1 assists per game since the All-Star break as Denver remains locked in a three-way battle for the Western Conference’s top playoff seed.

With Embiid ineligible, it appeared there would be an opening for one of the three rivals behind Jokic — Gilgeous-Alexander, Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic and Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo — to break through.

Individually, all three players have made compelling cases.

Gilgeous-Alexander, who leads an Oklahoma City team featuring five starters under the age of 25, has backed up a breakout 2022-23 campaign. His 30.3 points, 5.5 rebounds, 6.3 assists and league-leading 2.1 steals per game have helped OKC secure one of the NBA’s best records this season.

Doncic is leading the league in scoring at 33.9 points per game with 9.2 rebounds and 9.8 assists, while Antetokounmpo is on pace to become the first player in NBA history to average at least 30 points while shooting 60% from the floor.

But since the season’s second straw poll on Feb. 13, Denver has gone 17-5, the second-best record in the league in that span behind the Boston Celtics, helping Jokic fend off Gilgeous-Alexander and Doncic’s late-season charge. Milwaukee, on the other hand, has been up-and-down since changing coaches from Adrian Griffin to Doc Rivers at midseason, pushing Antetokounmpo from third to fourth in the voting this time around.

Only Jokic and Gilgeous-Alexander landed on all 100 ballots, with voting taking place from Sunday evening through Monday afternoon. While Jokic earned 85 first-place votes and 953 total points — the most since Jokic had 969 total points in ESPN’s final straw poll of the 2020-21 campaign — Gilgeous-Alexander finished second with 10 of the remaining 15 first-place votes.

Doncic, who finished third, picked up a first-place vote, while the remaining four first-place votes were split between Antetokounmpo and Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum.

They were followed by Jalen Brunson in sixth, Anthony Edwards in seventh, Kawhi Leonard in eighth, Domantas Sabonis in ninth and Celtics forward Jaylen Brown, who received a lone fifth-place vote, in 10th.

Three players who appeared on our previous ballot — Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell, Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton and Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant — didn’t receive any votes this time around, as injuries have hurt the candidacies of Mitchell and Haliburton, and Phoenix’s slip in the standings has kept Durant from getting consideration.

Brown, meanwhile, appeared in a straw poll for the second time in his career after also getting a vote in the final edition of 2022-23.