The stoicism captured both Nikola Jokić’s indifference toward another individual milestone and his patience with the Denver Nuggets’ struggles.
The Nuggets’ star feigned gratitude over tying Magic Johnson for third place on the NBA’s all-time triple-doubles list (138). After completing an extensive postgame workout, Jokić seemed more interested in discussing the state of the Nuggets following a loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday that marked their fifth defeat in eight games.
“You don’t want to lose, but it’s part of the process,” Jokić said. “We can learn from it and be better. Or we can just point fingers and blame each other. Depending on what we’re going to do is how we’re going to do to continue the season.”
The Nuggets (10-8) host the Golden State Warriors (12-7) on Tuesday as part of NBA Cup group play with uncertainty on how that will play out. That’s because Denver has fallen to ninth place in the Western Conference standings amid various moving parts.
After injuries limited Jamal Murray’s consistency in last season’s playoffs and the Paris Olympics with the Canadian national team, the point guard has played through slumps and highlight reels. After becoming a key part of the team’s frontcourt depth in the past 4 1/2 seasons, Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon missed 10 games with a strained right calf. Denver has experienced growing pains with carving out larger roles for their young players in hopes of offsetting key departures in the past two offseasons.
The one constant: Jokić. After winning an NBA title (2023) and three regular-season MVPs in the past four years (2021, ’22, ’24), Jokić is averaging career-highs in points (29.6) and assists per game (10.7). With Jokić ranking fourth in the NBA in scoring, second in assists and first in rebounds (13.2), it’s no wonder Denver coach Michael Malone described his star center multiple times as “the best player in the world.”
“What you love about Nikola and for him to be the centerpiece of everything we do is that it’s not just about Nikola,” Malone said. “We’re not asking him to go out there and score 45 points a night. We play through Nikola because he’s going to make the right read every time. And he has the ability to make everyone around him better.”
NIKOLA JOKIĆ 2024-25 SEASON STATS
G PPG RPG APG FG% 3-pt FG%
15 29.6 13.2 10.7 .562 .508 That strategy has not worked as seamlessly as in past seasons.
Amid concerns about second-apron penalties and luxury tax implications, the Nuggets spent the past two offseasons losing key parts of their roster depth. That included a dependable defender (Bruce Brown) and a two-way player (Kentavious Caldwell-Pope). Yet, the Nuggets also held relative optimism they could lean on consistent defense (Aaron Gordon) and wing scoring (Michael Porter Jr.) along with younger players assuming larger roles.
Malone called third-year guard Christian Braun “outstanding” for his hustle that has made him a valued defender and scorer. Malone said Peyton Watson has been “playing at a very high level,” with the third-year forward posting a career-high in points (9.9). Malone described second-year guard Julian Strawther as “a very important piece” in the team’s second unit for his perimeter shooting (41%) and defense. Malone also touted veterans Russell Westbrook and Dario Saric for their veteran leadership.
Nonetheless, the Nuggets rank 28th out of 30 NBA teams in bench scoring at 23 points per game.
“We need to have an understanding that now they’re playing meaningful minutes. But I think they’re playing [well],” Jokić said. “I don’t think they’re at fault for having the record that we have. We’re still trying to learn to play with each other. We had a couple guys out. We had a couple of guys injured. So it’s still a learning process.”
Jokić expressed hope the learning curve won’t remain as steep with Gordon’s return. Against the Clippers, Gordon posted 10 points and four assists in 24 minutes. Afterward, Gordon insisted to Athlon Sports that he did not feel any discomfort in his right calf. “I feel good,” he reiterated.
That should assuage at least some concerns, considering Gordon played a focal point on the Nuggets’ championship run two years ago with his consistent rebounding, interior defense and outside shooting potential. But he stressed the need for the team “to pay a little more attention to detail through the little things,” including boxing out, rotating correctly and setting teammates up better for a simple reason. As Gordon said, “Our margin of error isn’t as big as it was in years past.”
Despite that seemingly fragile dynamic, Malone observed that both Jokić and Murray “lead with positivity and patience.” The reason for Jokić’s levelheadedness?
“Everything is going to go how it’s supposed to go,” Jokić said. “So we just don’t need to make any reaction or make a bigger explosion.”
Murray inadvertently caused a bigger explosion when he matter-of-factly explained the Nuggets’ 27-point loss to the New York Knicks at home only two days after beating the Los Angeles Lakers by 25 points on the road.
“It’s a long season. Guys have lives outside of basketball,” Murray told reporters last week. “We just beat LA in LA. We’ve got some guys who live in LA, so stayed in LA. I don’t think the focus was there from everybody, and that’s what happens when you don’t have the focus.”
Murray did not speak to reporters following Sunday’s loss to the Clippers. Although Gordon said Jokić and Murray have “done a good job” managing the group, Porter respectfully declined to offer his own assessment before eventually stressing, “It’s not just Nikola and Jamal. We got a lot of good players. Everybody needs to pick it up a little bit.”
“There’s no complaints with those guys,” Braun said. “With Nikola’s work ethic, how he shows up every day and the way he approaches the game is amazing. Jamal’s handled his ups and downs, too. He’s openly said he felt like he was in a slump, but he’s playing well now. He’s kind of finding a rhythm a little bit. And Jamal competes every night. So we don’t worry about that. Those guys, we rely on them a lot, maybe more than we should. But they deliver every time.”
Especially Jokić, whom Malone contended “is seemingly playing at an even higher level this season.” If only the Nuggets could say the same thing about their own performances. That hardly seems to concern Jokić just yet. He contended the Nuggets’ inconsistency is “part of the learning process and part of getting better.” Denver will soon find out whether Jokić’s optimism becomes as strong as his play.
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