The Denver Nuggets are in danger of their season ending in the first round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs after falling to a 112-96 Game 4 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Denver has to overcome a 3-1 series deficit to keep their season alive, but it’s something Nikola Jokic has done before.
Jokic has come under fire for his xxx fourth-quarter performance in the Game 3 loss, crediting Rudy Gobert for his tremendous defense on him all series. However, before Jokic came out to give Gobert this praise in his post-game interview, he had to overcome a rather unusual personal situation.
The Athletic’s Jason Quick has revealed that Jokic came out of the showers after the Game 4 loss and announced that his underwear had been stolen.
“Nikola Jokic emerged from the showers and had a startling revelation. The most necessary item he needed to get dressed was missing. ‘Someone stole my underwear,’ Jokic announced, part alarmed, part panicked, part irritated. He looked up, down, to the left, to the right, bewildered, frustrated, and with utter, you’ve-gotta-be-kidding-me disbelief.”
“It didn’t take long for Jokić to eventually locate his lost item, inconspicuously draped over the closet rod in his locker,”
This is a funny anecdote from what was a night of despair for the Nuggets, who couldn’t beat the Timberwolves despite them losing both Anthony Edwards and Donte DiVincenzo to injuries. The Nuggets will have an opportunity to attempt their 3-1 series comeback without Edwards or DiVincenzo available for the Wolves, so that might be a silver lining.
Jokic stuffed the stat sheet with his 24 points (8-22 FG), 15 rebounds, and nine assists performance in Game 3, but his fourth-quarter inefficiency made it pointless as the Timberwolves picked up a surprisingly comfortable win. Jokic would make headlines for his late-game clash with Jaden McDaniels after the Wolves forward scored a garbage-time layup when the Nuggets stopped defending.
Jokic discussed the incident after the game and made it clear that he didn’t regret his actions.
“Because he scored, and everybody stopped playing. Come on, guys, you saw what happened… I don’t regret it.”
The 31-year-old NBA MVP finalist is averaging 25.0 points, 14.5 rebounds, and 7.8 assists in this series. While the numbers are there, his impact has been minimized by the Timberwolves’ aggressive defensive scheme. They’ve had two games in this series where they scored under 100 points already, something that hadn’t happened since January this year.
With Game 5 in Denver’s Ball Arena, Jokic and the Nuggets will have high hopes about turning this season around. With Jokic being back in his home arena, it’s unliekly he’ll forget where he placed his most important pieces of clothing while the media waits at his locker to interview him.
