Nikola Jokic says he told Aaron Gordon not to play in Game 7:
“I told him not to play. You can injure yourself even worse. You can see that he was struggling, hard to move, this and that. But he went out there to fight with us. We can just appreciate it.”
(via @Eurohoopsnet)
It's time for Denver to stop wasting Nikola Jokic's time.
Since bringing the Nuggets their first championship, Jokic has failed to reach the Conference Finals in back-to-back seasons with the same core.
The depth isn't there. The shooting and creating outside of Jokic and Playoff Murray isn't there. No matter how much Aaron Gordon rises, the rest of the league is rising higher.
And behind the scenes of all of this is ownership that just cleaned house- firing their coach and GM 79 games into the season. The same ownership that wanted to prioritize Michael Porter Jr. by paying him nearly $180M for an injury-riddled, sub-10 points per game Playoff performance.
Yes, they won a ring. But since then, they've done nothing but waste prime years of possibly the greatest player we've seen since LeBron James.
I'm serious. When was the last time a player was universally regarded as the best player in the world for this long?
Steph may have never been the best in the world. Giannis had it for 1-2 years. KD had it for maybe 1 year. Kobe had it for a couple years, Shaq and Tim Duncan battled for a couple years...
But we are going on 4+ years of Nikola Jokic being the clear best player in the world. And instead of giving him more help, he's received less year after year.
It has to stop. Ownership owes it to Jokic to empty their pockets. He just turned 30 years old.
Do not take the Joker for granted 💯
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope intends to sign a three-year, $66 million deal with the Orlando Magic, sources tell @TheAthletic@Stadium. Massive pickup for the rising Magic, acquiring the starting shooting guard of two NBA title teams.