Nikola JokićНикола Јокић · Denver Nuggets · #15
Nikola Jokić is a Serbian center for the Denver Nuggets, widely regarded as the best basketball player in the world. A three-time NBA MVP (2021, 2022, 2024) and the 2023 champion and Finals MVP, he holds a 28.8 career PER — among the highest in NBA history — and 198 career triple-doubles. In 2025-26 he became the first player ever to lead the NBA in both rebounds and assists while averaging a triple-double.
Nikola Jokić — the report card
Read his whole game at a glance, then dive into any skill. Grades from the DNA model + real production.
Where Nikola Jokić stands
Live ladders from the Balladex models, and what he's chasing. Rankings recompute nightly from real production, accolades, and search demand.
Nikola Jokić — every number, three levels deep
Headline → metric → the raw history behind it. Real career data; tracking-only metrics labeled.
How the model sees Nikola Jokić
Projection = per-minute rate × projected minutes. Rates are recency- and health-weighted, aged along a per-stat curve, and adjusted for live usage/role. No black box — every number shows its work.
Nikola Jokić career stats, season by season
| Season | GP | MIN | PTS | REB | AST | FG% | 3P% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015-16 | 80 | 21.7 | 10.0 | 7.0 | 2.4 | .512 | .333 |
| 2016-17 | 73 | 27.9 | 16.7 | 9.8 | 4.9 | .578 | .324 |
| 2017-18 | 75 | 32.6 | 18.5 | 10.7 | 6.1 | .499 | .396 |
| 2018-19 | 80 | 31.3 | 20.1 | 10.8 | 7.3 | .511 | .307 |
| 2019-20 | 73 | 32.0 | 19.9 | 9.7 | 7.0 | .528 | .314 |
| 2020-21 MVP | 72 | 34.6 | 26.4 | 10.8 | 8.3 | .566 | .388 |
| 2021-22 MVP | 74 | 33.5 | 27.1 | 13.8 | 7.9 | .583 | .337 |
| 2022-23 CHIP | 69 | 33.7 | 24.5 | 11.8 | 9.8 | .632 | .383 |
| 2023-24 MVP | 79 | 34.6 | 26.4 | 12.4 | 9.0 | .583 | .359 |
| 2024-25 | 70 | 36.7 | 29.6 | 12.7 | 10.2 | .576 | .417 |
| 2025-26 | 65 | 34.8 | 27.7 | 12.9 | 10.7 | .569 | .380 |
| Career | 810 | 32.0 | 22.2 | 11.1 | 7.5 |
The Lab
Every number, live and interactive. Real career data; models labeled.
Are the Denver Nuggets built to win?
Team projection rolled up from the roster + last-season baselines — and what it means for his role.
The Ballad of Nikola Jokić
Birth to now — the making of a legend, narrated and scored.
The beginning
The 41st pick, announced under a Taco Bell ad — now the lowest-drafted MVP in NBA history.
Turning pro
Drafted 41st overall, 2014 as a Center.
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In 2014, an NBA team drafted a chubby Serbian teenager 41st overall — and the moment aired under a Taco Bell commercial. A decade later he was the best basketball player alive.
Chapter
The story starts in Sombor, a farm town in northern Serbia, in a two-bedroom apartment shared by six people. Nikola was the youngest of three brothers — the other two a decade older, and a decade bigger.
Chapter
He couldn't overpower his brothers, so he learned to outthink them — passing, angles, seeing the play before it happened. That's the whole player, formed in a driveway. He also fell in love with something most kids never touch: harness racing. Horses, not hoops, were his first obsession.
Off the court
- Height
- 6'11"
- Weight
- 284 lb
- Draft
- 41st overall, 2014
- Born
- Sombor, Serbia
- Age
- 31
- Jersey
- #15
The most revealing thing about Nikola Jokić is that basketball may not be his favorite thing. His true passion is harness racing — he owns and races trotting horses back in Serbia, keeps a stable, and has said the birth of his daughter was the happiest day of his life, with a big horse race not far behind. He plays with a rare absence of ego and carries himself less like a global superstar than a farm-town kid counting the days until he can go home to Sombor.
He grew up in a two-bedroom apartment shared with his parents, grandmother, and two older brothers, who remain a protective constant courtside. He married his high-school sweetheart, Natalija; their grounded, low-drama family life mirrors his game — unbothered, unselfish, and immune to the noise.
The most unbothered superstar in sports — a quiet, cerebral genius who would rather be at the barn.
Nikola Jokić — frequently asked
The questions people ask most about Nikola Jokić, answered.
