Suns’ Chris Paul ahead of Devin Booker in ESPN’s NBA MVP straw poll
Feb 18, 2022, 4:06 PM
Chris Paul #3 and Devin Booker #1 of the Phoenix Suns look on a game against the Utah Jazz at Vivint Smart Home Arena on January 26, 2022 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Alex Goodlett/Getty Images)
(Photo by Alex Goodlett/Getty Images)
Philadelphia 76ers big man Joel Embiid has a tight edge on the Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic in an informal straw poll conducted by ESPN about the NBA’s Most Valuable Player race.
Both of the Phoenix Suns’ starting guards earned at least a vote in the second straw poll for this season that included 100 media members representing every one of the league’s media markets.
Point guard Chris Paul ranked fifth in the poll, behind Embiid, Jokic, the Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry.
Paul received two first-place votes on the ballots that had voters rank the MVP race first through fifth.
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Teammate Devin Booker was tied with the Miami Heat’s Jimmy Butler for 10th and received just one fifth-place vote.
Booker fell from a tie in seventh place since the first straw poll was taken in December. That’s despite him going on a tear since the calendar flipped to 2022 — Booker averaged 28.2 points per game in January and is at 27.1 points in February.
For the season, Booker is averaging 25.5 points, 4.5 assists and 5.2 rebounds per game while shooting 45% overall and 37% from three.
Paul held steady since December, when he was also fifth in the straw poll.
The point guard is averaging 14.9 points and 10.7 assists per game, the latter of which leads the NBA.
Atop the latest media poll by ESPN, Embiid has shot up the rankings after being tied for 12th at the check two months ago, while the former top candidate, Curry, has slid.
Jokic is in hot pursue of Embiid with just two fewer first-place votes and 35 fewer total points.
ESPN NBA MVP Straw Poll 2.0 Results
| PLAYER | TEAM | 1ST | 2ND | 3RD | 4TH | 5TH | TOTAL VOTES |
TOTAL POINTS |
PREV. RANK |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joel Embiid | PHI | 45 | 38 | 12 | 4 | 1 | 100 | 789 | T-12 |
| 2 | Nikola Jokic | DEN | 43 | 39 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 95 | 754 | 4 |
| 3 | Giannis Antetokounmpo | MIL | 9 | 14 | 56 | 13 | 5 | 97 | 512 | 3 |
| 4 | Stephen Curry | GS | 1 | 4 | 11 | 31 | 25 | 72 | 211 | 1 |
| 5 | Chris Paul | PHX | 2 | 2 | 7 | 21 | 25 | 57 | 157 | 5 |
| 6 | Ja Morant | MEM | 0 | 2 | 5 | 13 | 17 | 37 | 95 | N/R |
| 7 | DeMar DeRozan | CHI | 0 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 16 | 33 | 73 | 6 |
| 8 | Kevin Durant | BKN | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 2 |
| 9 | Luka Doncic | DAL | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 9 |
| T-10 | Devin Booker | PHX | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | T-7 |
| T-10 | Jimmy Butler | MIA | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | T-7 |
