Two months ago, the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award was Joel Embiid’s to lose.

Oddsmakers gave the Philadelphia 76ers’ superstar center and the league’s reigning MVP a commanding edge to repeat, while Embiid dominated the first round of ESPN’s MVP straw poll behind a third straight season of league-leading scoring — this season in the wake of guard James Harden’s chaotic departure from the franchise.

But when Golden State Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga dove for a loose ball and fell on Embiid’s leg during a game last month, it upended the MVP race in a way the league hasn’t seen.

Embiid, the first star to become ineligible for end-of-season awards under the NBA’s new 65-game rule, underwent a procedure on his left knee on Feb. 6 and will be reevaluated in a few weeks. (Embiid officially became ineligible when Philadelphia’s win in Washington Saturday night became his 18th missed game of the season.)

As a result, Embiid did not receive any votes in the second round of ESPN’s NBA MVP straw poll, which was conducted from Friday night through Sunday night. And with Embiid off the board, a familiar face has put himself in pole position: Denver Nuggets center and two-time MVP Nikola Jokic.

Jokic, who won his awards in 2021 and 2022, is trying to join an elite list. Only eight players have claimed at least three MVP trophies in their careers: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (six), Bill Russell and Michael Jordan (five), Wilt Chamberlain and LeBron James (four), and Moses Malone, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird (three). And even fewer players — Abdul-Jabbar, Russell, Chamberlain, James, Johnson and Bird — have won three MVPs in a four-year span.

Jokic is having another sensational season for the defending champions, averaging 26.3 points, 12.2 rebounds and 9.0 assists for a Denver team that is part of the cluster atop the Western Conference standings as the All-Star break approaches.

With two months remaining in the regular season, results are in for ESPN’s second NBA MVP straw poll of 2023-24. Here is how this unprecedented race is shaking out.

NBA MVP straw poll results: Joker chases No. 3

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Despite Jokic claiming 69 first-place votes, the six-time All-Star will look to stop a two-year trend: The leader in the second straw poll — Embiid in 2022 and Jokic last year — has been surpassed by the second-place finisher in official award voting the past two seasons.

If that trend continues, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — the face of the league’s most exciting young team — will join Steve Nash as the only Canadians to win the NBA’s top individual honor.

“Yeah, it’s cool, but I really just focus on winning games,” Gilgeous-Alexander said of being in the MVP discussion. “Nothing comes if you don’t win games, no award or accolades.

“So that’s all I try to focus on. And from there, hopefully things fall where I want them to.”

Having been named an All-Star starter for the first time this season, Gilgeous-Alexander is following his debut on the All-NBA first team with 31.1 points per game on 54.8% shooting, 5.6 rebounds, 6.6 assists and a league-leading 2.2 steals per game.

The 25-year-old guard is also the veteran in a Thunder starting five that features Giannis Antetokounmpo and Luka Doncic — to bolster their cases.

Antetokounmpo is averaging 30.8 points, 11.4 rebounds and 6.3 assists while shooting 61.1% from the field, but his individual brilliance has been overshadowed by a tumultuous season for the Bucks, Kawhi Leonard, Jalen Brunson and Donovan Mitchell.

  • Leonard, who hadn’t appeared on a single straw poll ballot since the 2020-21 season, jumped to fifth in this edition as the engine behind the Clippers’ NBA-best 27-7 record since Dec. 1. He is averaging 24.1 points on 52.7% shooting — 45.3% from 3-point range — with 6.2 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.7 steals per game.

  • Brunson received his first straw poll votes — and one first-place vote — after helping the Knicks put together a torrid January and leap into the top four in the East standings. The first-time All-Star is averaging career highs of 27.5 points and 6.5 assists per game.

  • Mitchell has had a sensational season for Cleveland as the Cavaliers have soared into second place in the East behind wins in 17 of their past 19 games. Mitchell, who has received a handful of votes in past straw polls, was on 16 ballots this time around after averaging 28.3 points and a career-high 6.3 assists per game, helping the Cavs overcome lengthy injury absences to starters Darius Garland and Evan Mobley. Behind Mitchell’s play, Cleveland is on pace to win 58 games, per ESPN’s Basketball Power Index, which would be the third most in franchise history, and the most ever by a Cavs team that didn’t feature LeBron.