• Nikola Jokic has established himself as the best modern big man after his 2023 Championship win
• Jokic’s potential was spotted by his Denver Nuggets teammates early
• Jarred Vanderbilt revealed how Will Barton and the Nuggets locker room used to push Jokic into embracing his MVP potential
Nikola Jokic could retire tomorrow and have a secure legacy as the best modern big man since Shaquille O’Neal, having achieved everything he realistically could have. Given that Jokic was a second-round pick, all of his accomplishments seem hard to comprehend.
One of the reasons Jokic emerged into the talent he is today is the support from his teammates on the Nuggets. Jarred Vanderbilt revealed how he saw the Nuggets locker room, Will Barton especially, motivate Jokic into pushing for the MVP award.
(Starts at 40:40)
“He was just different. Once he realized how nice he was and the impact he could have. When he was there, he was just always super nice. They were kind of pushing him, ‘Go get MVP’. I remember Will Barton was like, ‘Go get MVP, you can do that sh*t.’ Once he realized he could do that, it was over.”
Vando was on the Nuggets from 2018-2020, with Jokic winning MVP after he left. The media realized Jokic could be a future MVP winner by 2019, so the internal push for Jokic to embrace his star potential likely came when Vanderbilt was still a rookie.
Since then, Jokic has won two regular season MVPs and a Finals MVP, putting his name on a short list of modern NBA legends.
Jarred Vanderbilt Was Upset When The Nuggets Traded Him Away
Vando was a second-round pick when he joined the Nuggets in 2018 and was a developmental project. Unfortunately, the Nuggets winning timeline accelerated after their 2020 Western Conference Finals run, which saw the team trade Vando and other players in a 4-team trade that brought back Keita Bates-Diop, Shabazz Napier, and Noah Vonleh.
Vanderbilt opened up on how that trade experience made him feel.
“Obviously I felt a little type of way, just because I never got to even prove myself to be on the team. I appreciate them. They took a risk on me when I wasn’t even able to play at the time, and allowed me to rehab and get healthy. Obviously being able to learn the game, they taught me stuff on the court just as far as how to play… It’s always love going that way. But obviously, as a player and competitor, you want an opportunity to play, and I never got that.”
Vanderbilt now plays on the Lakers and saw the Nuggets sweep his team en route to winning their first title. Ironically, he was also on the Nuggets 2020 squad that lost to the Lakers in the Conference Finals as they went on to win the title.
The Nuggets Made The Most Of Their Moves
Looking back on that trade to send players like Vanderbilt, Malik Beasley, and Juancho Hernangomez to acquire the players they did, it made no impact on their title-winning roster. Bates-Diop, Napier, and Vonleh were off the squad soon enough and didn’t contribute to their title campaign,
The Nuggets could have found value from developing Vando and Beasley, but they had far superior players in their positions when it came to this season. Aaron Gordon is a much better option because of his experience and polished game as a power forward while Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is a high-value 3-and-D wing of this era.
Jokic carried some bad rosters to overachieving playoff finishes, but the second he had the help he needed, he elevated to winning a title. All of that can be attributed to the supportive culture that the vets Jokic was around, like Barton and Paul Millsap.
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