Nikola Jokic is now widely regarded as the best player in the NBA and the Denver Nuggets selecting him with the 41st pick of the 2014 NBA Draft will go down as one of the greatest steals ever.
There was a chance, however, that he’d have never joined the Nuggets, as Jokic was set to sign with a Spanish team before he came to Denver, as per Malika Andrews.
“He didn’t plan to come over to Denver,” Andrews said on The Dan Patrick Show. “He planned to stay over in Spain. He basically had a contract that was essentially signed with the Spanish team. He was playing for Mega at the time and the Spanish officials they came to watch him play. His plan was to be stashed for a couple of years and as we know, sometimes players who are stashed, they never make it over to the NBA.”
We have indeed seen players who stay in Europe for a couple of years after being drafted never get to the league. Jokic could have been another name on that list, but he put forth a terrible showing in front of the Spaniards.
“He had the worst game of his life he says when those Spanish officials came to watch him play,” Andrews continued. “4 points, 3 rebounds, couldn’t defend a broomstick and so the Spanish officials said we’re good, we don’t want this guy. And only then did he say, ‘Alright, I guess I’ll report back to Denver.’ We might not have seen this guy play.”
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Well, the Spanish team’s loss was the Nuggets’ gain and it almost seems like it was fate for him to end up in Denver. While he was drafted in 2014, Jokic only ended up joining the Nuggets in 2015 and averaged 10.0 PPG, 7.0 RPG, 2.4 APG, 1.0 SPG, and 0.6 APG as a rookie.
No one back then could have foreseen the player he was going to become today and it is a testament to his work ethic. Jokic had ridiculous averages of 30.0 PPG, 13.5 RPG, 9.5 APG, 1.1 SPG, and 1.0 BPG in these past playoffs, and who knows how much better he can get.
How Different Would The NBA Have Been If Nikola Jokic Never Showed Up?
Had Jokic not arrived, it is safe to say the Nuggets wouldn’t be the 2023 NBA champions. It could potentially have been the Los Angeles Lakers or the Phoenix Suns or even the Miami Heat. Joel Embiid would have won the MVP in 2021 and 2022 and he’d have been the one chasing a third straight MVP award this past season.
Jusuf Nurkic might still be a Nugget, as the organization had to pick between him and Jokic as their starting center. They went with Jokic as the player to build around, a decision that head coach Michael Malone called the best he’s ever made.
It certainly was the best and the Nuggets would be thanking their lucky stars that Jokic had the worst game of his life in front of the Spaniards.
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