Denver Nuggets Record Without Jokic

Since Nikola Jokic is the reigning two-time MVP, it is normal to wonder what the Denver Nuggets record without Jokic is. Besides, it is incredible what Jokic has done despite the absence of Jamaal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. this season. He still led them to the first round of the playoffs. As a matter of fact, the injury bug hit them the most this season and he has missed a total of more than 300 games.

Losing Record this Year

This season, the Nuggets record without Jokic is 2-6. They did face a handful of good teams but they could have won the games they lost if Nikola Jokic was in the lineup. When you add all the games Nikola Jokic has missed in his entire career, the Nuggets have a record of 11-17 without him. Believe it or not, he did not miss a game last year. It is a hard feat due to the gruelling NBA schedule that causes many players and executives to call for the season to be shortened.

While it is true that each NBA team plays a total of 82 regular-season games, they do get paid a lot of money. Thanks to Nikola Jokic, the Nuggets are consistently in the hunt for the NBA title.

They actually reached the Western Finals a couple of years ago when they unexpectedly came back from two straight 3-1 deficit. No team was able to accomplish that before them and they did not even think they were going to do it. It is amazing how he is able to score and dish out assists with the use of just one hand. In fact, the way he does it is often compared to water polo players where people do it just fine.

As a matter of fact, he used to play it as a kid along with his brothers.

Is Jokic a unanimous MVP?

While some critics are mad that Nikola Jokic gets to repeat as MVP, he is one of the most complete players that the league has ever seen. He is top eight in the league in points, rebounds, and assists. When it comes to net ratings, Nikola Jokic leads the league Believe it not, his team has a net rating of 8.4 when he is on the court which leads the league.

While DeMarcus Cousins is a good backup centre, the Nuggets don’t really have a good net rating when he subs in for Jokic as the team has a net rating of -7.9 which would rank in the bottom five of the league. It is disheartening to realize that Nuggets players combined to miss 306 games this season due to injury. Despite that, Jokic still led them to a first-round matchup with the Golden State Warriors.

Even if the Warriors proved to be a bit too much for them to handle, he was able to avoid getting swept as they blew them out in the fourth game. They got sent home in Game 5 of that series. Joel Embiid was second place in MVP voting as he finished with more than twenty first-place votes.

The fact that centres get to rule the league once again is a welcome sight for big men hoping to enter the upcoming drafts. It was not too long ago that the league was ruled by star guards.

Joining Elite Company

After winning back-to-back MVP trophies, Nikola Jokic joins an elite list of talent. That list actually includes NBA legends Bill Russell and Kareem Abdul-Jabar. In fact, he is the first second-round pick to have won the award after he was just a 19-year-old playing for the Serbian league. Nobody thought he would come this far but he even increased his rebounding average from last season.

After winning the MVP twice, the Nuggets hope to sign Nikola Jokic to a supermax extension. It is each player’s dream to have a contract as rich as that so it is no surprise that Nikola Jokice said he would sign it the moment it is put on the table. After all, he loves the community so there is no reason for him not to stay in this league. It is amazing how Denver won a lot more games than Vegas predicted them to at the start of the season.

Of course, they assumed Jamaal Murray would return at some point and Michael Porter Jr. would have a breakout season. Unfortunately, the Nuggets were without both players but it still resulted in them getting more than forty-seven wins. In fact, some analysts say they could have advanced to the first round if they did not run into the Warriors who had a better supporting cast than Jokic’s fellow MVP candidate, Steph Curry.

Ability to Stay Off Injuries

What people most admire about Nikola Jokic is his ability to stay out of injury. As a matter of fact, he has never missed more than nine games in the 5 seasons that he has been in the league. Despite that, he leads the Nuggets in defensive rating.

Even if Jokic missed 8 games this season, he only missed a couple of games last season which showed Denver having a better record. Of course, it helped that he had a better supporting cast last year. Only time will tell if they will have a better record next season when all the Nuggets players are expected to come back at full strength.

The truth is you can never tell what is going to happen in this league as a team’s season can pretty much change in a blink of an eye. One injury can dramatically change the outlook of a team just when you thought they were going smoothly. We need to give a lot of praise to the Nuggets’ conditioning coach for how well they take good care of their players, especially the MVP.

It is safe to say that the Joker is a once-in-a-lifetime player as he has the shooting stroke and passing abilities of a shooting guard even if he is 6’11.