Last season, the Denver Nuggets saw their star center, Nikola Jokic, take an even bigger stride in his development.
What is even more impressive about what Nikola Jokic did, is that he did so while Paul Millsap was injured and helped will the Denver Nuggets to a respectable record.
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They may have missed the post season, but that was far from Nikola Jokic’s fault. Jokic had a career year posting averages of 6.1 assists per game, 18.5 points per game, 39.6% from three, an effective field goal percentage of 55.4%, a career high free throw percentage of 85% and last, but not least, an impressive offensive rating of 121. All stats are verified via basketball reference.
However, what really sticks out is Jokic’s last month of the season where he was putting up MVP type of numbers. In the last month of the regular season, April, Jokic averaged 7.7 assists per game, 12.3 rebounds per game, an astonishing 25.3 points per game and did so on shooting 51.8% from the field while also averaging a true shooting percentage of 61.2%.
To put these numbers into context, let’s take a look at the reigning MVP, James Harden, and his month of April. Harden averaged 8.6 assists per game, 5.4 rebounds per game which is solid for a guard, 26.8 points per game on 49.4% shooting and also averaged a true shooting percentage of 66.2%.
Jokic had similar numbers in the last month of the season as the player who won MVP. Let that sink in for a moment. With all of this in mind, Jokic should be ready for another big year. A year which will once again take the league by storm and if he works hard enough, should see him in some MVP conversations as well.
Jokic is fresh off a new contract which locked him up for four more years, so he will be looking to prove he is well worth the price.
Nikola Jokic is set to dominate the NBA next season and there should be no doubts about it.