Lakers’ Austin Reaves gets honest about Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic

Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic became a main talking point, during Los Angeles Lakers’ guard Austin Reaves’ recent appearance on the Full Send Podcast.

The hosts asked the 25-year-old about players around the league that continue to impress and surprise him, at which point he cited Jokic.

“Jokic is one,” Reaves said. “He’s just so unfazed with everything you do. You can throw a million different coverages at him. His best thing about him is he’s so unselfish. He don’t care.”

Reaves was then asked if he thought the Nuggets big man should have won the MVP in the 2022-23 campaign.

“I personally thought he should’ve,” Reaves responded. “The way that he plays is so unique for a big man. “But obviously, Joel ’s really good and dominates the game in just a different facet. It’s just Jokic – I think we were going back to the MVP – I think it was just voter’s fatigue.”

Jokic narrowly missed out on his third-straight MVP award last season. He was the runner-up to eventual winner Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers.

Despite coming up short in the MVP race, the Serbian still had a fantastic season. In 69 starts for Denver, he averaged 24.5 points, 11.8 rebounds, and 9.8 assists per game while shooting 63.2% from the field and 38.3% from beyond the arc.

Of course, Jokic took home a much more important trophy than Embiid did, when he and his Nuggets teammates captured the franchise’s first-ever Larry O’Brien trophy in June.

Denver Nuggets to host Lakers opening night, Warriors on Christmas

Jokic will have a chance to thank Reaves for the shoutout in just over two months when he and the Lakers come to town for opening night. The Athletic’s Shams Charania revealed Thursday that Denver and L.A. would be kicking off the new season on October 24 at Ball Arena.

The Nuggets will also have the chance to shine in the spotlight of the NBA’s Christmas Day slate when they host the Golden State Warriors.