THE TAKE
Giannis just won the title and Finals MVP with a 50 point performance. He didn’t win regular season MVP for a 3rd consecutive season because Jokic beat out Embiid for it. AD could’ve been Finals MVP last year. We are in an era of bigs. #NBAFinals
BOLDNESS
4/100
GRADE
60/100
PLAYERS / TEAMS
None tagged
GRADING CRITERIA
TRUE IF
big men (centers/PFs) continue to dominate MVP and Finals MVP voting and on-court impact over the next 2-3 seasons;
FALSE IF
guards or wing players reassert dominance in awards/impact
recency biasnarrative trend
OUTCOME
PARTIALLY TRUEThe 'era of bigs' held up for about two seasons post-take: Jokic won MVP in 2021-22, Embiid (a center) won in 2022-23, and Jokic again in 2023-24. However, the trend then reversed sharply — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, a guard, won back-to-back MVPs in 2024-25 and 2025-26, and also won the 2025 Finals MVP. On the Finals MVP side, Stephen Curry (guard) won in 2022, Jokic (center) in 2023, Jaylen Brown (wing) in 2024, and SGA (guard) in 2025 — a mixed bag that does not support sustained big-man dominance.