PHOENIX SUNS

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 Vivin...

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.

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

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