On Monday night, Nikola Jokic checked two more boxes on his extraordinary NBA resume.
Leading the Denver Nuggets with a game-high 42 points in Game 5, his fourth 40-point game of the NBA Finals, and 16 rebounds, Jokic’s sensational stat line carried the Nuggets to the franchise’s first ever championship in the team’s 47 years of existence. His dominance during this year’s title run, along with his performances in the past few regular seasons, have made him synonymous with NBA greatness.
Before we dive into this year’s postseason campaign, let’s look at what Jokic has done in the year’s leading up to Monday’s championship.
Taken in the late second round of the 2014 NBA Draft, the Serbian-born, 6’11 center quickly assumed the role of Denver’s man in the middle. In Jokic’s rookie year, he started 55 games and averaged a humble 10 points, seven rebounds and two and a half assists. Surrounded by the likes of Danillo Gallinari and D.J. Augustin and still developing to the American playstyle, the Nuggets finished with the eleventh seed with a 33-49 record.
Over the next handful of years, he began to find his size 16 footing, with his numbers quickly transforming into All-Star caliber material. Most notably was his assists, which jumped to 8.3 per game in the 2020-2021 season, when he won his first Most Valuable Player award. Jokic also averaged 26 points and 10.8 rebounds as the Nuggets finished 47-25 behind only the Utah Jazz and Phoenix Suns in the west. A year later, Jokic won the MVP award again with 27 points, 13.8 rebounds and 7.9 assists along with his fourth All-Star honors.
Despite the individual success, the Nuggets scarcely made deep playoff runs, albeit a Western Conference Finals appearance in 2020 where they lost 4-1 to the Los Angeles Lakers. Jump to this year, where Denver was in their best position to enter the playoffs since drafting Jokic.
Jokic once again showed out through the 2022-2023 regular season, coming 0.2 assists away from averaging a triple-double, finishing with 24.5 points, 11.8 rebounds and 9.8 assists and the best record in the Western Conference at 53-29.
Obviously, Jokic had help alongside him coming into the playoffs as well. His pick-and-roll counterpart, point guard Jamal Murray, was having his best year to date, averaging 20 points, four rebounds and six assists, while forwards Michael Porter Jr. and Aaron Gordon were also chipping in nearly 20 points a night.
With those weapons beside him, Jokic’s historic ring campaign began with a sweep of the Minnesota Timberwolves. In the second round, the Nuggets dispatched the NBA’s newest “super team” of Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Chris Paul’s Suns in six games, then ending Lebron James’ underdog Lakers in four to reach Jokic’s first NBA Finals, greeted by the Miami Heat.
In this year’s postseason, Jimmy Butler’s eighth seeded Heat retained their Pitbull reputation, downing two Eastern Conference giants in the Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics. A win for either the Nuggets or Heat would result in the majority of their rosters getting their first ring, with Jokic and Butler the frontrunners for Finals MVP on their respective teams. Despite sneaking out a win in Game 2, the Heat could not overcome the offensive machine from the Mile High City, falling 94-89 in a dog fight in Game 5.
As everyone expected, Jokic led his team to the Promise Land, literally. Throughout the playoffs, he led the team in points, rebounds, and assists, averaging 30 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists. He also shot 54.8 percent from the field and 46.1 percent from beyond the arc, both being team-bests.
While the numbers may speak for themselves, let’s break down what this run represents in NBA history.
First off, as I said before, Jokic led the Nuggets to their first ever Finals appearance, and championship, also becoming the first center to win Finals MVP since Shaquille O’Neal in 2002. With that, he joins Giannis Antetokounmpo, Dirk Nowitzki, Tony Parker and Hakeem Olajuwon on a short list of foreign-born players to win that honor. He is also the first Serbian ever to do so.
He is also the first center in NBA history to record 500 plus points and 100 plus assists in a single postseason and is the first player to lead the entire postseason in total points, rebound and assist with 600, 269 and 186. Jokic also set the record for most triple-doubles in a playoff run with 10.
The fact that he is only eight years into his NBA career, and that he may continue to develop and become even more of a dominant force, is almost imaginable at this point.
