Nikola Jokic recently went viral after a funny interaction with a reporter on Friday. After the media asked about his last bad game, Jokic thought for a second before coming up with a hilariously wrong answer.
Reporter: “Have you had any bad nights this year?”
Jokic: “I think the second game, where we lost…”
Reporter: “Against the Clippers? You had 41.”
Jokic: “Oh, no…”
Nuggets big man Nikola Jokic doesn’t interact with the media often, but when he does it can often make for some memorable moments. This week, he went viral for that interaction with the reporter, which illustrates just how easily it all comes to the Serbian star.
Jokic has always been known as a humble superstar and he treats the NBA more like a full-time job than his dream come true. Yet, somehow, he’s the best player in the world and can hardly even remember the last bad game he had.
At first, the two-time MVP believed that his performance against the Clippers on October 26 was his final poor performance. With 41 points, 9 assists, and 4 rebounds in 37 minutes, it turned out to be one of his greatest performances of the year. The Nuggets lost the game in some way, and Jokic may have a negative opinion of it because of the blunders made in the last minutes.
In reality, Jokic’s only “bad” game this season was on opening night when he dropped 16 points, 13 assists, and 12 rebounds on 46.2% shooting. Of course, those would count as career-best numbers for the average NBA player.
This season, Jokic is once again playing at an elite level with averages of 28.9 points, 13.2 rebounds, and 11.3 assists per game on 55.6% shooting. Offensively, he’s doing it all for the Nuggets and putting the team on his back in order to keep them relevant in the West. This season, at 29, he’s seeing career-high marks in several categories in part due to averaging a career-best 38.1 minutes per game.
So far, however, none of it hasn’t worked out for the 2023 NBA champions. As it stands, the Nuggets are just 5th in the West at 6-3, behind the Suns, Thunder, Warriors, and Minnesota Timberwolves. This season, they look a step slow compared to the 2022-23 campaign, when they had enough star power and depth to win their first championship ever.
After the departure of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Bruce Brown, it’s put more pressure on guys like Aaron Gordon and Jamal Murray to rise to the occasion and they just haven’t been able to keep up so far. The result has been losses, despite monster games from Jokic night after night.
As one of the best players in the world (if not the best), the Nuggets owe it to the Joker to build him a roster that can compete with the best. Right now, they don’t have that but one or two moves could easily get them there.
At the very least, as long as Jokic is healthy and in his prime, the Nuggets will have a puncher’s chance to win and it’s more than enough reasons for them to pay to upgrade the roster and increase their odds of success.