Following the Oklahoma City Thunder’s shocking win against the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday, second-year player Aleksej Pokusevski revealed that he spoke with fellow Serbian Nikola Jokic, where the reigning MVP offered him some advice.
“Take your time, work every day. Everything’s going to be good,” said Pokusevski.
Pokusevski also said that he asked Jokic for his jersey and said he will get it the next time the Thunder play in Denver on March 26.
The 20-year-old is starting to find some good consistency lately as he has averaged 10.8 points on 48.4 percent shooting and 6.4 rebounds in his last 10 games since the beginning of February.
Pokusevski was given the starting nod Wednesday in his third start overall this season and first since early January. Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault noted that Pokusevski has earned this start with his recent play.
“His only minute restriction comes from performance,” said Daigneault. We’re very disciplined of that for him.”
Daigneault has admitted to coaching Pokusevski hard this season and making him earn every second he’s on the floor. Which is a stark contrast to last season where Pokusevski was given a lot of rope to play with and try stuff out. It seems like the Thunder entered the season trying to bring that back in and be more disciplined with Pokusevski’s development in order to see tangible results.
Things weren’t looking pretty to start off the season as the sophomore forward struggled on both the NBA and G League level. But something has clicked for him as he has played like a legit NBA role player for over a month now.
“We’ve really raised the bar and we’ve pushed him pretty hard and we’ve only got a better version of him,” said Daigneault.
