Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I’m picking the Bills and the Eagles to win on Sunday, but I really wouldn’t be surprised if I was wrong on both counts.
In today’s SI:AM:
🃏 Nikola Jokic goes off
🏀 Big college hoops weekend
🤠 Cowboys’ best choice
How does he keep getting better?
Nikola Jokic has won three of the last four MVP awards, and he’s well on his way to making it four out of five. Jokic’s Denver Nuggets may not be having an amazing season (they’re 28–16, fourth place in the Western Conference), but Jokic has been otherworldly over the first half.
Jokic has had plenty of jaw-dropping performances this season—he dropped a career high 56 points on Dec. 7 and has two other games with more than 45 points—but he stuffed the stat sheet on Thursday night in a way few players ever have before. Jokic had 35 points, 22 rebounds and 17 assists in Denver’s 132–123 win over the Sacramento Kings, making him the second player in NBA history with at least 35 points, 20 rebounds and 15 assists in a game. The only other player to have put up a stat line like that is Wilt Chamberlain in 1968.
Still not impressed? Check out the unbelievable buzzer beater Jokic made at the end of the third quarter—a one-handed baseball throw from the opposite free-throw line.
OH MY JOKIĆ JOKIĆ JOKIĆ 😱😱😱
— NBA (@NBA) January 24, 2025
HITS A NONCHALANT HEAVE FROM 3/4 COURT!! pic.twitter.com/6nn3f6kU4c
That’s one of the longest made baskets in the history of the NBA, although it may not officially go down as such. Jokic’s shot is logged in the box score as a 66-footer, which is at least 10 feet shorter than it actually was. If the court is 94 feet long and Jokic was standing near the opposite free throw line, 15 feet from the baseline, when he released the shot, it was closer to 80 feet. There have been only four made shots of at least 75 feet since the NBA began collecting shot distance data in the 1996–97 season.
It would be nice if Jokic’s heave was placed in the proper historical context, but he’s already had his fair share of accolades this season. He’s averaging 30.2 points, 13.4 rebounds and 10.1 assists per game—all career highs. He ranks third in the NBA in scoring, third in rebounding and second in assists. No other player ranks in the top 20 in all three categories. He could become the third player in NBA history to average a triple double over the course of a whole season, joining Oscar Robertson and Russell Westbrook (his current teammate, who did it four times in a five-year span).
The traditional stats do a good enough job of illustrating how great Jokic has been this season, but the advanced stats make him look even more impressive. He has a player efficiency rating of 33.59, which would be the highest in the history of the NBA. The current record-holder? Also Jokic, who had a PER of 32.85 in the 2021–22 season.
That’s what sets Jokic apart from Westbrook. While Westbrook made history with his gaudy stat-stuffing, Jokic has been significantly more efficient than Westbrook was at his peak. Westbrook’s best season by PER is 2016–17, his first triple double season, when he posted a PER of 30.63. But that ranks just 27th on the all-time single-season leaderboard. In fact, Westbrook has only three seasons with a PER that ranks in the top 250 in NBA history, and the other two were the ’14–15 and ’15–16 seasons, before he crossed the triple double barrier.
Jokic’s current run, on the other hand, is equally impressive whether you’re a stathead or a casual fan who judges players based on the box score stats. Jokic is the Nuggets’ primary ballhandler, but he does not turn the ball over. He takes more shots than any other Denver player, but he does not take bad shots. Over the last five seasons, Jokic has a PER of 31.9. Westbrook, during the five-season span in which he averaged four triple doubles, had a PER of 23.7. John Hollinger, the inventor of PER, also developed a scale to contextualize the stat. A player with a PER between 30 and 35 is a “runaway MVP candidate,” while a player with a PER between 22.5 and 25.0 is merely a “strong All-Star.”
Jokic has been the most entertaining player in the NBA for years now. It’s a delight to watch a big man whose feet rarely leave the ground dominate the league by dishing out creative passes and using immaculate footwork to score circus baskets. The longer he keeps this up, though, the more we need to recognize that he’s not just one of the best of his era—he’s one of the best players in the history of the league.
The best of Sports Illustrated
- Greg Bishop spoke with Bills safety Damar Hamlin, who will start for Buffalo in Sunday’s AFC championship game two years after his heart stopped on the field.
- Albert Breer’s latest mailbag leads with a question about how the Lions can rebuild their coaching staff after losing both coordinators.
- Conor Orr argues that Kliff Kingsbury is a perfect fit for the Cowboys as their search for a new coach drags on.
- It isn’t just a big football weekend. Kevin Sweeney identified the biggest men’s college basketball matchups on tap.
- Sweeney also updated what the March Madness picture looks like now that we’re in the thick of conference play.
- The weirdest story of the night was Buccaneers offensive coordinator Liam Coen’s apparent backtracking on the team days after he was given a contract extension.
- New Dodgers acquisition Roki Sasaki will get to keep his No. 11 jersey after a teammate gave up the number.
- Bill Belichick’s debut with North Carolina will be broadcast nationally on ESPN.
- The NCAA handed Deion Sanders and Colorado a recruiting violation over his comments about a prospect.
The top five…
… things I saw last night:
5. Alex Ovechkin’s empty-net goal to move to within 20 of breaking Wayne Gretzky’s all-time record.
4. Leon Draisaitl’s long backhand assist on Zach Hyman’s goal.
3. Jaden Daughtry’s buzzer beater for Marist to beat Niagara.
2. Yet another powerful dunk by 40-year-old LeBron James.
1. Rob Williams’s one-handed slam off a pretty lob from Deni Avdija.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as SI:AM | Nikola Jokic Is Having the Best Season of His Career.
