As of Nov. 26, Nikola Jokic is averaging 28.7 points, 11.1 assists and 12.6 rebounds. Not only are those the best scoring numbers of his career, but the Serbian big man looks like he’s playing basketball for fun. Whether it’s the lackadaisical approach he takes to putting the ball in the basket, the nonchalant way that he makes his outrageous passes or the emotionless look he wears throughout games, at this point, it looks like Jokic is toying with his opponents.
After starting the season relatively slowly, Jokic proceeded to take any criticism and throw it out the window, dropping 55 points, 12 rebounds and six assists in a win against the Clippers on Nov. 12. Since then, he’s only dished out under 10 assists twice, while only scoring under 26 twice. It’s no surprise that Jokic is having this type of season so far, but that’s not the interesting part.
The difference between Jokic and all of his other competitors is his on/off numbers. Like Jokic’s game, this statistic isn’t the most exciting, yet it’s what makes him so special. In the 2025-26 season, when he’s on the court, the Nuggets have the best offensive rating in the league. It isn’t anything outstanding for a superstar to have this effect on their team. However, the mind-boggling part is that Denver’s offence drops to the worst in the entire NBA when he’s off the court. When he’s on court, the team scores around 24.4 points per 100 possessions, making him the most impactful player in the NBA by a long shot. It’s not like he just started doing this, as he’s managed to have this same type of presence on his team since the beginning of the decade.
The question is, how has a slow-footed, unathletic European big man managed to become one of the league’s all-time greatest players? It’s simple: he’s figured out the NBA.
No matter what coverage opposing coaches throw at him, Denver is going to get a good shot. A big body gets thrown at him to resist his size; he punishes them with an array of post moves. A team decides to put a smaller body on him to force him into help, yet he shoots over them. Worst of all, if he is double-teamed, he manages to find an open teammate every time, passing over, around or through a defender.
His number doesn’t lie. The former second-round pick is simultaneously becoming one of the all-time best rebounders and scorers the game has ever seen. Not to mention, he has already cemented himself as one of, if not the best, passers in history. The league has never seen a seven-footer pass the way that he does. It’s not just the number of assists he puts up on a nightly basis, but how he does it. Players make passes out of coverages every game, but when you face the amount of attention that he does, it’s incredible that he is consistently able to make the right read every time down the floor.
You can’t talk about Jokic’s greatness without mentioning winning. Since the start of 2020, Nikola Jokic has had the most wins out of any player in the NBA (301). After winning the NBA title and finals MVP in 2022, he cemented himself as one of the greats, bringing home Denver’s first title in franchise history. If that wasn’t impressive enough, he’s done all of this without a single all-star teammate. There’s truly nothing you can do to stop him, whether it’s in big moments during the playoffs or when he casually wants to drop a record-breaking stat line in a random regular season game.
Speaking of performances, earlier this year on March 7, he may have recorded the greatest stat line in NBA history. Against the Phoenix Suns, Jokic dropped a ridiculous 31 point, 21 rebound, 22 assist triple-double, marking it as the first 30-20-20 game in league history. Three years prior, in game three of the NBA Finals, he scorched the Miami Heat with a 32-point, 21-rebound and 10-assist triple-double on the grandest stage. It’s likely Jokic isn’t done putting up crazy numbers just yet, as he’s still only 30 years old. For most stars, 30 is around the age when a player might start to see regression soon; however, Jokic’s injury history — or lack thereof — makes you wonder if he still has another eight plus years of this kind of performance. His play style also relies on him to use little athleticism, keeping his body safe from any overwhelming fatigue or overuse of any muscles.
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Currently, Jokic is projected to win his fourth MVP in six years, the type of domination the award hasn’t seen since LeBron James and Michael Jordan. If he keeps up this level of production into his mid to late 30s, we could be witnessing one of the greatest runs by a player in NBA history.