1 question for every Nuggets starter as the playoffs and offseason approach
By Ben Handler
Nikola Jokic: Are you ready to enter the pantheon?
It almost seems unfair to ask anything of the Joker at this point, but if he leads the Nuggets to another title he’ll officially be in rarified air. He has a very real chance to cap off a four-year run of three MVP Awards and two Finals MVP Awards.
There are only eight other players in NBA history to win three or more league MVP awards, and only 12 players to ever win multiple Finals MVP awards. The only players on both lists are Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Larry Bird, and Magic Johnson (Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain played before the league awarded a Finals MVP).
That’s an extremely short list and it’s made up of the best players to ever pick up a basketball. That’s the kind of company Jokic is looking to join. His resume and legacy are already teflon, but another championship here would put him squarely in GOAT conversations.
He’s still only 29 years old, and even if they don’t win it all this year, he’ll likely have several more years to add to his accolades. But a title run this year all but stamps Jokic as one of the ten greatest players in NBA history.