CLEVELAND — Denver Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokić recorded his 139th triple-double Thursday against the Cavaliers to pass Magic Johnson for third place on the NBA’s all-time list.
Jokić, the league’s reigning MVP, finished with 27 points, 20 rebounds (ties a season-high) and 11 assists in a 126-114 loss to Cleveland. He notched his 10th assist — on a 3-pointer from Michael Porter Jr. — with 3:37 left in the fourth quarter and passed Johnson in 692 career games. Magic needed 880 contests to hit 138 triple-doubles.
The Cavs, meanwhile, improved to 20-3 to tie the best start in franchise history (2008-09). Donovan Mitchell scored 28 points and Darius Garland added 24 points; Cleveland connected on 22 3-pointers to Denver’s six 3s.
Jokić, who had a double-double (17 points, 14 boards) at halftime, stands alone behind only Oscar Robertson (181) and teammate Russell Westbrook (200) for the most regular-season triple doubles in league history. He has recorded at least 10 triple-doubles every season since the 2017-18 campaign, with a career-high 29 in 2022-23 (the Nuggets’ championship season) and 25 last year. Counting the playoffs, Jokić has 157 triple doubles.
The 29-year-old center is a three-time league MVP, was Finals MVP in 2023, and is a six-time All-Star. Before Thursday’s game, Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson said Jokić “is the hardest (player to) guard in the league because of his passing ability.
“And then he can get 50 (points) on you,” Atkinson added. “He’s so different from the rest of the league as a playmaking 5 who shoots 3s, can put it on the deck, scores inside and outside.”
Like LeBron, Bird, and Oscar
Jokić has stamped himself as one of the best passers in NBA history. More than that, he and LeBron James are arguably the two best passers of this era.
What Jokić is doing is unprecedented in its volume. He’s taken the blueprint of great passing centers in NBA history — the late, great, Bill Walton and Arvydas Sabonis — and expanded upon the brilliance they introduced to the league from that position.
Where Jokić has separated himself as a center and thrust himself into the overall conversation for best passer in NBA history is his ability to affect the game with his playmaking through all 94 feet. Sabonis and Walton did most of their work in the halfcourt, mainly through the post, catching teammates cutting to the basket. Because Jokić dribbles like a point guard and is able to grab a rebound and push the ball himself in transition, his pathway to making plays for others has been so much more wide open than any other center in NBA history.
Because of that, we can’t compare Jokić to others at his position in that vein. He’s more like James, Larry Bird, Oscar Robertson and the man he just passed, Magic Johnson. His passing is an all-encompassing endeavor for which there isn’t a defense at this point. — Tony Jones, NBA writer
Required reading
(Photo: Bart Young / Getty Images)
