The Joker (Batman’s nemesis, not the NBA player) is a narcissist.
He thinks he’s an important figure that the masses need to admire. And when people don’t, he gets violent.
Nikola Jokic, despite the nickname, is the exact opposite of this DC villain (well, sometimes he can get violent).
On the court, he’s constantly looking for plays to run for his teammates.
Even though he is an elite scorer and can get almost any bucket he wants (63 FG% in 2022-23), he makes an effort to get his squad involved in the scoring.
So, he looks for them and he assists them (he averaged 9.8 assists per game in 2022-23).
And off of the court, he’s the same way.
According to Malika Andrews, who was on the Dan Patrick show, the first thing Jokic brings up when he is asked about his performance is his teammates.
She says he doesn’t care about the fame or attention that comes with being a legendary basketball player and only cares about the people who helped him.
“He wants to talk about his teammates, that’s the thing,” Andrews said. “When you ask him about himself, he is always going to say ‘This is how someone else helped me to get that.’”
She added that his behaviour is different from many other NBA players this generation and it’s most likely rooted in his upbringing.
“There’s just a unique appreciation for a player like Nikola, a player like Giannis,” Andrews said. “A perspective that they keep that I think maybe comes from a place of ‘we weren’t always told that this was going to happen. We were not put into a funnel when we were a 10, 11, 12, 13 year old playing in AAU basketball.’
“And don’t get me wrong, it is incredibly difficult to make it into the NBA -there is no sure bet… But there is this inherent belief that is fed to many, many young players that wasn’t fed to someone like Nikola Jokic.”
Final Thoughts
Jokic won his first NBA championship and his first Finals’ MVP this season.
In doing so, he helped the Denver Nuggets win their first title in franchise history.
And during the post-game interview -despite having a legendary series- he said that all he wanted to do was go back to his home in Serbia to tend to his horses -not celebrate the victory or be celebrated for leading the charge.
And this is why Jokic is refreshing and amazing.
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