Nikola Jokić is on pace to be the 1st player in history to finish top 3 in scoring, rebounds, assists, and steals.
There’s no reason to feel sorry for Nikola Jokić, nor would he want that.
He’s wealthy beyond his dreams, with hundreds more millions to come. He can indulge his passion, harness racing, when the urge hits and time permits. He’s healthy and gets medical treatment from the finest experts when he’s not. He has a growing family. His many admirers throw roses at his feet.
And he hoops for a living, which is among the world’s sweetest gigs. First-class travel with private jets and 5-star hotels, free gourmet meals before and after work, no daily 9-to-5 gridlock commute, a handful of locker room attendants rushing to do errands, and the cheers or gasps from thousands of fans on game night.
But there is reason to be sympathetic to a three-time Kia MVP and former NBA champion in a basketball sense, wild as that sounds. It’s because Jokić … is lacking.
• He has no All-Star teammate.
• He has no All-Defensive Team teammate.
• He has no All-NBA teammate.
• He has no Rookie of the Year teammate.
• He has no teammate leading the NBA in any significant statistical category.
And most unfathomable of all, he hasn’t had a teammate fit any of those descriptions his entire 10-year career.
Jokić fits the description of a heavy lifter, not only more than any current player, but maybe more than any player in history — with regards to the lack of accomplished teammates. It’s why he also fits another description as arguably the league’s most valuable player, with an emphasis on value.
He drops triple-doubles with regularity and is among the league leaders in scoring, rebounds, assists and steals.
Is there another player asked to do more for his team in order for team success, either now or this era?
The Nuggets are on pace to win 50-plus games for the third straight year. They reached the Western Conference semifinals every year except once since 2018-19 and won the title in 2023. This coincides with the rise of Jokić as a generational player and yearly MVP contender.
And during that span, Jokić has been his team’s best all-around player, by far.
Since 2018-19 — seven seasons including the current one — he has led the Nuggets each time in scoring, rebounds and assists, and all but three seasons in steals. That’s 25 out of a possible 28 total categories.
Some context is in order. Injuries prevented Jamal Murray from challenging him a few times in steals (Murray was the team leader in 2020-21) and perhaps cost him an All-Star selection as well. But that’s it.
To summarize — and keep in mind he’s only 30 — Jokić is understandably among the most valuable players of all time. He’s the lead singer of a pop group whose backup singers don’t always show up to the concert on time, if at all.
“We’ve gotten spoiled watching him,” said Nuggets coach Michael Malone.
Indeed. The Nuggets will rely on him again tonight in a crucial Western Conference showdown against Minnesota, a team that has won five straight games against Denver (10 ET, TNT).
Lack of teammate star power
In the history of MVP selections, not one went his entire career without a celebrated teammate. The closest comps to Jokić are Allen Iverson and Dirk Nowitzki.
Both spent the vast majority of their Hall of Fame careers hauling franchises. Iverson had just two All-Star teammates in Dikembe Mutombo (who also made All-Defensive teams) and Theo Ratliff; Iverson was a one-man show when the Sixers reached the 2001 NBA Finals.
Nowitzki was blessed with a few All-Stars earlier in his career (Michael Finley, Steve Nash and Josh Howard), though none when he almost single-handedly won the championship in 2011.
Moses Malone and Kevin Garnett were a few token teammate All-Star appearances removed from the Jokić Plan until they escaped those situations; Malone fled from Houston to Philadelphia to join Julius Erving, and Garnett bailed on Minnesota to literally seek greener pastures in Boston with Paul Pierce and Ray Allen. They each won championships with their new teams.
Meanwhile in Denver, Jokić is surrounded by capable players, all suited to compliment his vast skills, none qualified to creep anywhere close to his level of excellence. And to be fair, how many players in the NBA can?
Here’s what Jokić is working with in Denver:
Murray. As mentioned, injuries stole some of his prime regular seasons. And Murray did had postseason moments where he was the best player on the floor. Most vividly was his bubble playoff run when he had a pair of 50-pointers in the first-round series with Utah, with game-winners against the Lakers more recently.
He’s the designated co-star and ideal guard because he can play off the ball and allow the offense to run through Jokić. They’ve worked well together, and in 2021 Murray became just the fourth player (after Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan and LeBron James) to average 20 points and 10 assists in the Finals.
Since then, however, Murray’s performances have fluctuated and mostly his biggest issue is health and availability. This season, once again, he didn’t make the All-Star team.
Aaron Gordon. The Nuggets were transformed once they acquired Gordon from Orlando and gained a defensive presence. Gordon has helped at both ends, bringing a vastly-improved corner 3-point shot while remaining a solid finisher at the rim after collecting feeds from Jokić.
Yet when this season ends, he will have played at least 73 games only twice in his five Denver seasons, another victim of constant injuries. And despite being a reasonably solid stopper, he has never made an All-Defensive Team, nor an All-Star Game.
Michael Porter Jr. He recovered from back surgery early in his career to give the Nuggets a constant 3-point threat. Whenever Jokić gets double-teamed, Porter is usually around to take advantage of open looks. His rebounding (seven per game the last two seasons) is underrated.
His tendency to vaporize, though, makes it tough on the Nuggets, mainly in the postseason. He struggled through the Finals in 2021 and was a non-factor last season in the semis against Minnesota, a series that went seven games and wore down Jokić, who was desperate for help.
The three aforementioned players are the main sources of support for Jokić, although once again, availability is an issue. The Nuggets have used their regular starting five just 21 times so far this season.
“That lineup has won a lot of big games,” Malone said. “They’ve been battle-tested and won a lot of battles.”
But how much of that team success is mainly due to Jokić? How effective would Murray, Gordon and Porter be without him?
Bucks coach Doc Rivers once said: “I would be scared if I was a GM to sign a player from the Denver Nuggets because he makes them that much better.”
LeBron James echoed this when he said Jokić raises the stakes among this teammates.
“He does everything,” LeBron said, “and the most important thing is he changes the way his teammates think about their own play. When you’re able to inspire your teammates to play at a level that sometimes they don’t feel like they can play at, that’s a true testament of a great one.”
The Nuggets are praying that core around Jokić won’t decline, for financial reasons if nothing else. They chose to reward them rather than change the deck. Murray has a supermax extension and the other two have multiple years remaining on their respective contracts.
Essentially, the Nuggets are capped out here in Jokić’s MVP prime years, making it tricky to bring major change to the group — and limiting their options to provide Jokić with that elusive All-Star or richly-awarded co-star.
He might need to get used to this.
‘Best year’ yet
What makes an MVP? Nikola Jokić ranks top-3 in four major categories, while Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's scoring and winning stand out this year.
The true measure of a valuable player is how his team fares without him. In that sense, Jokić is a man on his own island.
When he’s on the floor, the Nuggets’ offense is among the league’s best. When he sits, they tailspin. This isn’t new; if anything, this is the story of his time in Denver. How many Nuggets’ leads have vanished with him taking a well-deserved breather?
He’s the triggerman on almost every play, either with his passing, outside shooting or points in the paint. It feeds the theory that the Nuggets would be iffy to make the playoffs if he ever sat an entire season.
That’s one reason Jokić, whose defense is often questioned, isn’t always aggressive defensively — he can’t afford to get into foul trouble and head to the bench, or worse, foul out and never return. The Nuggets would be hard-pressed to win any game of significance in those situations.
What’s most remarkable about Jokić — though it’s good news for the Nuggets — is his durability and refusal to take nights off when dealing with minor aches. That, and also this:
“I think this has been my best year.”
Indeed, because Jokić is on pace to finish among the NBA’s top three in scoring, rebounds, assists and steals. That has never been done before. And at one stage this season he was also among the leaders in 3-point percentage and will finish high in that category, anyway.
He’s all set to average a triple-double with high efficiency. That’s an insanely steep level. That places him squarely among the legends, and his 2024-25 season among the all-timers.
Which is to say a three-time MVP, locked in a close race with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for a fourth … is about to top himself.
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Shaun Powell has covered the NBA for more than 25 years. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on X.
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