Nikola Jokić thinks he’s playing ‘the best basketball of my life’ — and he may be right

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In the aftermath of another monstrous performance — 35 points on 15-for-20 shooting, 18 rebounds, eight assists, a steal and a block with just one turnover in 40 peerless minutes — to earn the Denver Nuggets a split of their back-to-back set against the West-leading Oklahoma City Thunder, Nikola Jokić wasn’t particularly interested in handicapping the state of this season’s NBA Most Valuable Player race between him and OKC superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Not especially surprising, coming from a player who’s spent the last half-decade both vying for the crown of the best player on the planet while also never seeming all that thrilled about the hyperfocus and attendant toxicity of the annual discourse surrounding the biggest individual honor the sport has to offer.

Jokić was, however, willing to engage in a moment of self-reflection about where he finds himself as he nears the end of his 10th NBA season — which, in his view, is a peak higher than any he’s reached before.

“This is my third or fourth year in a row [in MVP contention], so I’m really — I don’t know. I cannot control it,” Jokić told reporters after Denver’s 140-127 win over the Thunder on Monday. “Obviously, I think I’m playing the best basketball of my life. So if that’s enough, it’s enough. If not, [Gilgeous-Alexander] deserves it. He’s really amazing.”

“The best basketball of my life” is an awfully lofty perch for a player who is one of just nine in NBA history with three MVP trophies on his mantel. (The other eight: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, LeBron James, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Moses Malone. Pretty good company.) But as dominant and impressive as Jokić was in those three MVP seasons — and in the 2022-23 campaign, when he finished second to Joel Embiid in MVP voting before going on to dominate the postseason and lead the Nuggets to their first NBA championship — the numbers say that the big fella might have a point here.

Jokić is posting career highs in scoring and playmaking, averaging 28.9 points and 10.5 assists per game to go with his 13…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/nikola-jokic-thinks-hes-playing-the-best-basketball-of-my-life–and-he-may-be-right-184910111.html

Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2025-03-11 18:49:00

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