Nikola Jokic has been the best basketball player in the world for the last six seasons. He's won three of the last six MVP awards, and over that time Jokic has taken multiple leaps, mostly in his ever-ascending assist totals, finally leading the league in dishing out dimes in 2025-26. He also won his first rebounding title last season. His next leap needs to be cracking 30 points a night for the first time. Leading the league in scoring would just be icing on the cake, and it could raise the bar for the Nuggets.
Jokic scored a career-high 29.6 points in 2024-25 on 63.6% shooting from inside the arc. He's one of the best mid-range shooters ever, and just last year he led the league in mid-range FG%. But what's even more wild is that he might be the best close- and mid-range shooter of the last 30 years.
A tweet from "NBA crazy stats" shows that Jokic is not just the only player in the top 30 in career FG% over the last 30 years for hook shots, jump shots, and layups, but Joker is literally the best. Ever. He ranks first in hook and jump shots, and fifth in layups. And he's the best floater shooter in the game, too. The Nuggets need to encourage Jokic to shoot more.
Jokic needs to take more games over with his inside game
Jokic is the most well-rounded shooter in the NBA. But even he has moments when certain aspects of his game go silent. That was apparent against the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Nuggets' first-round playoff exit this past year. Jokic couldn't hit a three, making only 19.4% of his attempts. People were giving Rudy Gobert his flowers for the defense he played on Jokic. But in reality, Jokic only had two poor games and three exceptional two-point shooting games in the series.
Jokic shot 75% from two in Game 1, 72.7% in Game 5, and 71.4% in Game 6. Unfortunately, he figured out the best way to attack the Timberwolves too late. But he still only scored 27 and 28 points in the latter two. That goes to show just how close Jokic could be to averaging 30-plus a night.
Just imagine Jokic averaging a 30-point triple-double for the season. Who would deny him his fourth MVP if that happens? Probably nobody. Sure, it's not really his style to take over a game, and he'll always be looking to make the right pass. But if Jokic can take the leap to score over 30 points a game, the Nuggets' ceiling will rise this season.
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