NIKOLA JOKIC is not of this world.
Fine, let’s put it this way: This version of Denver Nuggets do-all frontman Nikola Jokic is playing like the best basketball player in the world right now.
The skills, stats and eyeballs all pass the same test; at 6-11 and 26 years old, Jokic has become the most uniquely skilled player in the Association today. Because despite his fun-loving Joker persona and unheralded path to the NBA via the 41st pick in the 2014 Draft out of Sombor, Serbia, Jokic is both the League’s frontrunner for MVP (as of this writing) and perhaps its most unsolvable matchup equation.
If he does take home the MVP crown, he’ll be the lowest-drafted player in NBA history to claim the honors, and the first in Nuggets team history. Still, how the Joker ascended from quiet second-round pick into one of the most unguardable players on Earth, and fearless leader of those Nuggets, well, that’s another thing.
“HE’S AN algorithm,” Nuggets President of Basketball Operations Tim Connelly tells us. “The game’s going at half speed for him…he’s impossible to guard.”
Jokic is a problem, alright, one that 29 other teams are routinely left scratching their collective heads on just how exactly it is you stop this guy.
This story is from the June - July 2021 edition of Slam.
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This story is from the June - July 2021 edition of Slam.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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