Because in the regular season, Jokic doesn't have to switch. He defends the paint-- and has actually become quite a good defender inside. The most impactful defender on his team, in fact. And one of the most impactful interior defenders in the NBA.

Now, in the playoffs, as we've increasingly seen in the last ~5 years, that's where teams decide to just go all versatility, and we've seen even Gobert-- the best defensive center since, I don't know, Ben Wallace-- be put on an island in space by guards and wings.

So there's a real conversation to be had about the value of drop coverage big men in the playoffs. Draymond Green discussed this idea of an 82 game player vs. a 16 game player-- that certain players are inherently going to bring more value to the regular season, but because the game is so differently run in the playoffs, those players won't have the same value in the postseason by nature of the schemes they'll be forced to play.

And I think if people wanted to advocate for MVP voting to be done after the playoffs and include playoff performance? I'm fine for people to argue that. It'd be interesting to think about how MVP voting would change over the years if the playoffs were included in consideration.

But until that day comes? Jokic was, at worst, one of the best two regular season players in the NBA. And he's the best offensive player in the NBA in the regular season. And, as anyone who watched the Nuggets knows, he wasn't exposed on defense in the regular season-- the opposite, really.

Some articles on Jokic's defense, for anyone interested (I suspect those who think Jokic is a bad regular season defender based on the Golden State series have their mind made up, but if anyone cares):

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nba/news/fighting-the-narrative-nikola-jokic-is-not-a-bad-defender/1hsm3nijgbgnw1lr8c22k38clw
https://www.theringer.com/nba/2021/12/13/22831783/nba-trade-deadline-utah-jazz-boston-celtics
https://ftw.usatoday.com/2021/12/nba-nikola-jokic-defense-stats-nuggets-improvement
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/nikola-jokic-bolstered-his-mvp-case-with-his-defense/