Nikola Jokić — A Career in Cards

1995 – 2014

A kid from Sombor who almost picked horses

Born February 19, 1995 in Sombor, Serbia — the youngest of three brothers.
Shared one bedroom with both older brothers, Strahinja and Nemanja, in a cramped family apartment.
As a teen he was heavy and reportedly drank around three liters of Coca-Cola a day.
Sombor is a harness-racing town. Jokić spent his teens at the track and nearly chose horses over basketball — he still owns and races them there today.
Played for KK Mega Basket from 2012 to 2015 — known as Mega Vizura in 2014-15, and Mega Leks from 2015.

June 26, 2014

Denver took him with the 41st overall pick in the second round.
TNT was airing a Taco Bell ad when the pick came through. No highlight reel, no interview — just a ticker crawl along the bottom of the screen.
Jokić on it years later: "I think I've never had Taco Bell just because of that."
Denver left him in Serbia for one more season rather than bringing him over right away.

2014 – 15

Named ABA League regular-season MVP on March 26, 2015.
Averaged 15.4 points, a league-leading 9.3 rebounds and 3.5 assists, with the league's best index rating at 22.
Parted ways with Mega Basket on June 9, 2015 to start his NBA career.

2015 – 16

2016 – 17

December 2016: Michael Malone moves Jokić to starting center for good. Denver's offense takes off almost immediately.
Averaged 16.7 points, 9.8 rebounds, 4.9 assists — the first real look at the point-center he'd become.

2017 – 18

Denver missed the playoffs by a single game, losing a win-and-in game 82 at Minnesota in overtime.
His passing volume keeps climbing and the "Joker" nickname sticks league-wide.

2018 – 19

First All-Star selection — Denver's first All-Star since Carmelo Anthony in 2011.
First All-NBA First Team honor.
Nuggets finish as the #2 seed in the West and reach the Western Conference Semifinals.

2019 – 20

In Orlando, Denver became the first team in NBA history to erase a 3-1 deficit twice in the same postseason — over Utah, then the Clippers.
Reached the Western Conference Finals.
Named All-NBA Second Team.

2020 – 21

2021 – 22

2022 – 23

Denver went 53-29 and won the first NBA title in franchise history, beating Miami 4-1. Clincher: 94-89 on June 13, 2023.
Bill Russell Finals MVP — 30.2 points, 14.0 rebounds, 7.2 assists per game in the Finals.
First center to win Finals MVP since Shaquille O'Neal in 2002, and the lowest draft pick ever to win it.
Set the record for most triple-doubles in a single postseason (10).
First player in NBA history to lead a playoffs in total points, rebounds and assists.
Game 3: 32 points, 21 rebounds, 10 assists — the first 30/20/10 game in Finals history.

The full championship-roster autograph collection lives at 2022-23 World Champs.

2023 – 24

August 2024

Led Serbia past Germany 93-83 in the bronze medal game with a triple-double: 19 points, 12 rebounds, 11 assists.
Serbia's first Olympic basketball medal since the 2016 Rio silver, which Jokić was also part of.

2024 – 25

Averaged a triple-double: 29.6 points, 12.7 rebounds, 10.2 assists. Only the third player ever to do it — after Oscar Robertson and Russell Westbrook — and the first center.
March 7, 2025: the first 30-20-20 game in NBA history — 31 points, 21 rebounds, a career-high 22 assists in an overtime win over Phoenix.
April 1, 2025: a 61-point triple-double against Minnesota, the most points ever scored in a triple-double. Denver still lost in double overtime.
Finished MVP runner-up to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
April 8, 2025: Michael Malone fired with three games left, ending the coach-and-center partnership that defined the franchise.

2025 – 26

Led the NBA in rebounds (12.9) and assists (10.7) per game, while averaging 27.7 points — 8th in the league — on .569 shooting.
December 25, 2025: 56 points, 16 rebounds, 15 assists in a 142-138 overtime win over Minnesota — the first 55/15/15 game in NBA history. His 18 points in the overtime period alone are the most ever scored in an OT.
Named a 2026 NBA All-Star — his 8th selection, at the All-Star Game in Los Angeles.
A left knee injury four days after that Christmas game cost him about four weeks and ended his push for a fourth MVP.
Denver finished 54-28 under David Adelman in his first full season as head coach, third in the West — then lost to Minnesota in six games in the first round.