By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net

Denver Nuggets coach Mike Malone was asked the reasons why his star center Nikola Jokic isn’t being heavily mentioned in MVP conversations this season, even though he has the performances to make a strong case for winning the award.

“I’m not sure, and we don’t concern ourselves about it,” Malone said before the Nuggets’ game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, per The Denver Post. Denver lost 113-101. “If you want to sleep on the Nuggets, if you want to sleep on Nikola, keep on sleeping. … We know who we have. We have an MVP candidate, we have the best center in the NBA.”

It’s a legit question considering Jokic’s numbers (career-highs 20.8 points, 11.2 rebounds and 6.9 assists) and the fact that the Nuggets are second in the Western Conference standings with a 38 – 18 record. The “Joker” himself though, doesn’t worry himself too much about it according to his coach.

“I’m not going to get into the reasons why we don’t get the perceived respect from everybody in the country, because then we’re listening to the noise … (Nikola is) not going to bed at night wondering why no one’s talking about him. He doesn’t care. He’s reading his book on horses, we’re winning games, and he’s happy,” Malone added.