No gold medal, but Nikola Jokic becomes 1st player to achieve incredible Olympic feat

Despite falling short of winning the gold medal, the Olympics were a massive success for Nikola Jokic and the Serbian men’s basketball team. The team proved themselves by going toe-to-toe with a loaded Team USA, then toppling Germany, the world champs.

But what Jokic did on a personal level was arguably even more impressive. He lifted every player on his team to new heights and had them believing they could beat the best players in the world. He put up a triple-double in the bronze medal game and came an assist shy of the mark on two other occasions.

He was dominant as ever and stamped his claim as the best player alive on the world stage. It’s hard to come in third place while improving one’s reputation but that’s exactly what Jokic did in Paris.

Jokic becomes first player to lead the Olympics in points, rebounds, assists, and steals

Perhaps more impressive than any of that, Jokic accomplished something that has never been done before in the history of the Olympics. He became the first basketball player to lead the entire Olympics in points, rebounds, assists, and steals.

This might be the best way to try and capture Jokic’s dominance and put it into perspective. To be clear, he didn’t just lead his own team in those categories, he led all players in the entire tournament.

The fact that he was able to carry that load and burden, still produce at the level he did, and almost lead his team to one of the greatest upsets in basketball history is absolutely amazing. That’s a perfect encapsulation of what a special player Jokic is and has proven to be at every level.

Will Jokic be back for another run at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics?

Whether or not he has another run like this one in him four years from now remains to be seen. He’ll be 33 years old when the 2028 LA Olympics take place. There’s no reason to think he won’t still be playing at a high level, but a lot can happen in four years, and sustaining his current level for that long would be a near miracle.

Either way, the point is to enjoy the Nikola Jokic experience for as long as we can. Nuggets fans should be counting their lucky stars every day that they get to watch and appreciate this brilliance on a nightly level. Now we just have to sit back and wait for the NBA season to get started again.