After weeks of hearing about how great every MVP candidate is from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to Victor Wembanyama to Luka Doncic to Jaylen Brown, it was starting to feel like people had forgotten about the world’s best player. People have become so used to the greatness of Nikola Jokic that they’re almost bored with it.
The way he was being talked about in the media, you’d think he had fallen off a cliff, and the Nuggets were on the verge of missing the playoffs. So, leave it to the Joker to go out and remind everyone what he’s capable of.
He did it in the form of one of the most outrageous weeks of NBA basketball in recent memory, as it was announced on Monday that Jokic has been named the Western Conference’s Player of the Week. In four games, the Nuggets went 4-0, and Jokic averaged 26 points, 17 rebounds, and 14 assists.
Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokić and Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum have been named the NBA Western and Eastern Conference Players of the Week, respectively, for Week 23 of the 2025-26 season (March 23-29). pic.twitter.com/hBpHWcMMkQ
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) March 30, 2026
That four-game stretch would be the best four games of most players’ careers, and Jokic did them consecutively. He finished with 25, 15, and 8 in an easy win over the Warriors on Sunday night, which actually dropped his averages for the week across the board. Plus, in his final game of the previous week, Jokic dropped a 22/14/14 game in another win over the Suns, which was his first of four straight triple-doubles.
Jokic reminding everyone he’s still the best in the world
Even with this crazy run of games, Jokic has almost zero chance to get back in the MVP mix, but that’s perfectly okay. He sent a very clear message to anyone who needed a reminder that he’s still the greatest player in the NBA, and is capable of doing things on an NBA court that nobody else can even come close to.
Hopefully, he’s peaking at the right time and rounding into form as we’re now less than two weeks out from the end of the regular season. The goal was always to have this team get healthy and click at the right time, and it seems like Jokic got the message.
Whether it will ultimately be enough to take down teams like the Spurs and Thunder and get back on top of the NBA world with another championship remains to be seen, but it certainly seems like Jokic is ready to climb that hill.
Let these other young bucks battle it out for MVP and other regular-season honors. Jokic and the Nuggets have their eyes on a much bigger, more important prize that will be handed out in June.