Across NBA coverage in 2023 as Finals MVP Nikola Jokic ascended to the top of the league, analysts leaned into the idea that Jokic doesn’t care about basketball. But JJ Redick thinks it’s baloney.
In June after winning his first championship, Jokic went viral for panicking about the timing of the parade in Denver. Watch those clips and you would think all Jokic cared about were his horses and his family.
Redick just can’t conceive of an elite basketball player being as detached as Jokic pretends to be.
“I think this is all a bit. I think he is putting this on. I really do,” Redick said on The Dan Patrick Show on Tuesday. “The idea that he goes home for the summer and doesn’t touch a basketball and then the first week of the season averages 30-12-9 … I’m not buying it.”
Redick estimated based on conversations with people in the Nuggets organization that Jokic is just putting on an act.
“He’s an absolute psychotic competitor,” Redick said.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise. Jokic is an unbelievable passer at 7-foot, one of the strongest players in the NBA and has improved as a scorer every season of his career. This season, Jokic is scoring a career-best 29 points per game on 57 percent shooting from the field.
Jokic is the favorite to win his third MVP award before his 30th birthday.
Yet most NBA fans and pundits can’t help but make a joke about his lackadaisical spirit. You just don’t get that good without being passionate and competitive. Jokic is probably just a funny guy who found a way to make the most of mandatory media appearances and interviews.
Kudos to Redick for destroying a fun meme in the name of truth.
[The Dan Patrick Show on YouTube]
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.