Nikola Jokic continues to dominate, leaving the Warriors in its wake. After a slow start to the game, Jokic and Co. asserted their superiority on away turf. While Jamal Murray caught the eye in yet another dazzling Nuggets display, Jokic again was the main man.
Jokic, considered the best by some, dished out yet another triple-double to continue his supreme form and takes his triple-double run for consecutive games to three. While getting the job done against the San Francisco team, Jokic in his nonchalant manner, broke another NBA record and this time of a future Hall of Famer.
Nikola Jokic surpasses LeBron James in NBA triple double rankings
After the outstanding full-court dime against the Washington Wizards, Nikola Jokic set a new record for scoring triple-doubles against all the teams he played in the NBA. The Nuggets center with his stellar performances week in, week out, has now surpassed the Lakers legend LeBron James in the all-time triple-double chart.
Amongst the current NBA players, the Nuggets star Jokic has the second most number of triple-doubles, 139 combining the regular season games and the playoffs, after Russell Westbrook’s 210.
On Sunday the 29-year-old scored 32 points, 16 rebounds, 16 assists in the 119-103 win over the Golden State Warriors. His triple-double in the game was the 123rd in the regular season so far in his career and 18th this season which keeps him just behind the Kings’ Domantas Sabonis (19) while the 20-time NBA All-Star has 3 this season.
Last year Jokic outdid LeBron James after a victory over the Pelicans that marked his 108th regular season triple-double, one more than the veteran, playing 813 fewer games.
LeBron James has 138 career triple-doubles combining the regular season and playoffs. Surprisingly the 4-time NBA Champion scored it playing 1754 games while it took Jokic only 720 games to surpass the NBA great.
The Serbian has secured the fourth position among the NBA greats like Russell Westbrook (198 regular season and 210 including the playoffs), Oscar Robertson (181 regular season and 189 including the playoffs) and Magic Johnson (138 regular season and 168 including the playoffs) while LeBron James is in the fifth position (110 regular season and 138 including the playoffs) in the ranking of most triple-double scored in the NBA regular season. With the way Jokic is playing, it won’t take him long to be in the third position.
Nikola Jokic favorite to win NBA MVP?
The Denver Nuggets 2-time NBA MVP is already a favorite to win his 3rd one. Nikola Jokic has recorded 26.1 points, 12.3 rebounds and 9.3 assists in 56 games this season with 35.1% from the 3-point range.
According to ESPN’s latest MVP straw poll, the last year’s NBA Champion is on the top followed by OKC’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo. If he wins the accolade for the third time, he will join the elites such as Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Moses Malone who have won it on three occasions.
With the initial favorite Joel Embiid out of the picture due to injury, Jokic seems like the best fit for the NBA MVP title this year, although there is ample time left for other players to dramatically shift the situation.
