Jokic makes All-NBA First Team, history upon history
DENVER (KDVR) — Denver Nuggets players and fans are still feeling the brunt of a heartbreaking loss, only one win away from the Western Conference Finals. While that pain may linger for a while, in time, Nuggets fans can look back and say, 'Wow! I really got to watch Nikola Jokic play every night.'
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There will come a day when Jokic laces up his 'Peppa Steppas' for the last time, and Colorado sports fans will miss watching their all-time great make basketball look ridiculously easy.
Jokic already has a Hall of Fame career and the 2024-25 NBA season only enhanced his resume in what may have been his best year yet.
Jokic just missed out on his fourth MVP award, taking second place in the vote, but was compensated with a spot on the All-NBA First Team after a season where he made plenty of history in a way that only he can.
Jokic was voted unanimously for First Team honors and joins fellow players, including:
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City Thunder
Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks
Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics
Donovan Mitchell, Cleveland Cavaliers
During the season, Jokic broke personal records and NBA records, and even his second-place finish in MVP voting puts him in rarified air. He joined Larry Bird as the only other player to finish in at least second place for MVP voting in five consecutive seasons.
This is the fifth time Jokic has made the All-NBA First team and the seventh consecutive year he has made one of the three All-NBA teams, a franchise record.
He did so by averaging a career-high 29.7 points, 10.2 assists, 1.8 steals and made a career-high 41.7% of his three-point attempts, in a season where he became the third player ever to average a triple double, and the first to finish in the top three spots across the NBA in four major statistical categories.
Jokic recorded 34 triple-doubles, the most by a center in NBA history, beating out statistical enigma Wilt Chamberlain, who had the previous record of 31. With those 34 triple-doubles, he bypassed Magic Johnson on the all-time NBA triple-doubles list.
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This is his third consecutive season recording at least 20 triple-doubles, making him one of four players in history to record multiple seasons with 20 or more triple-doubles.
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He dished out a total of 716 assists, which beat his own record of most assists by a center in an NBA season, 708 assists in 2023-24. This is also his sixth-straight season with over 550 assists, which surpasses the franchise record previously held by Fats Lever.
The 2024-25 season was Jokic's eighth straight year leading his team in points, assists and rebounds. No other player has done that for more than four seasons.
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