The Denver Nuggets are more than a one-man crew. Nikola Jokic might be the best -- or one of the best -- players in the world right now, but David Adelman’s team is deep, and his supporting cast has already shown that they can have big nights as well.
Jamal Murray is one of the most notorious playoff risers in the game, and while he’s usually not as explosive in the regular season, he’s the type of streaky shooter that can get hot in the blink of an eye. Even Aaron Gordon has stepped up offensively this season, also making big strides from beyond the arc.
As pointed out by the NBA on X, the Nuggets already have three games with players scoring at least 50 points through the first 21 games of the season. That’s the sign of a championship contender.
Nikola Jokic could average 45 points per game, says Aaron Gordon
Watching Aaron Gordon and Jamal Murray go off for 50+ is impressive, but Nikola Jokic has reached a level of dominance in which nobody would bat an eye if he were to do so.
With that in mind, Gordon just fired a rather bold claim about his fellow big man, stating that he could probably average 40+ per game if he set his mind to it:
"Joker's a monster. He's a monster. He's 7‑foot‑1 and has the best floater in the NBA. What do you do about that? Like this dude could average 40 if he wanted to. 40, 45 points, he could average that if he just put his head down and go for it and boogied every game. But he likes the assists, he likes to facilitate, he likes to get everybody involved," Gordon said on "The Old Man and the Three" podcast.
He just ran away with Western Conference Player of the Month honors after averaging 28.9 points, 12.4 rebounds, and 10.9 assists per game on 63.7% from the floor, 45.3% from beyond the arc, and 85.2% from the charity stripe.
He became the first player in NBA history to score at least 550 points, grab more than 235 rebounds, and hand out more than 200 assists in a 19-game span. Those are ridiculous numbers for any player, and especially for a center.
Jokic is up to 181 career triple-doubles, just nine shy of the legendary Oscar Robertson for the second most all-time.