Nikola Jokic has had a much calmer offseason in 2024 compared to what he dealt with in 2023, coming off his first NBA Championship. While Jokic did bring a Bronze medal home to Serbia in the summer, the center has been largely away from everyone's eyes this summer. He took that time to grow a goatee and was not happy at media day when he wasn't receiving compliments about the same.
Jokic hasn't experimented with styles of facial hair over his career so far. We have seen him clean-shaven and we've seen him with a stubble, but we haven't seen him make such a concerted effort to grow out his facial hair in his 10-year stint in the NBA. The reigning league MVP is ready for a tough season where the Nuggets hope to reclaim their NBA Championship.
He averaged 26.4 points, 12.4 rebounds, and 9.0 assists last season before falling to a shocking second-round exit at the hands of the Minnesota Timberwolves , blowing a 3-2 lead as the squad who had home-court advantage. With the departure of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope this summer , the Nuggets look worse for wear in a rapidly improving Western Conference.
Jokic's excellence as an individual player could be enough to carry the Nuggets to the top-six of the West, but it's harder now than in years past to confidently call the Nuggets favorites to win a title given the improvements made by the Timberwolves, Thunder, and Mavericks this summer.
New Teammate Russell Westbrook Thinks Jokic Is The Best In The World
Russell Westbrook is donning the blue of the Denver Nuggets this season, his fifth NBA team since 2019. While the former MVP has become a rotational journeyman, he hopes to provide the right kind of support as a guard for the Nuggets, especially as the primary playmaker for non-Jokic minutes.
Westbrook is excited to play alongside another triple-double machine, referring to Jokic as the best player in the world with both players focused on stacking wins for the Nuggets.
"Nikola is the best player in the world and he's playing at the highest level and all we care about (he will probably say the same) is winning basketball games and that's it."
Winning is going to be extremely challenging for any team in the West, but especially the Nuggets given the question marks surrounding the team heading into this campaign. Christian Braun is being expected to step up and replace KCP's impact on the franchise, along with other young stars being promoted to create a sustainable team model in Denver.
A slight slump might be in the cards for the Nuggets given the rate at which everyone else has improved this summer. They've made marginal additions like Westbrook but haven't been able to replace the title-winning 3-and-D play of Pope, Bruce Brown, and Jeff Green, so it's not going to be a smooth season for them.
Related: Vlade Divac Crowns Nikola Jokic As The Greatest European NBA Player Of All-Time
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