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Three-time NBA Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic had reached many many milestones during his illustrious 10-year career with the Denver Nuggets. But one thing he had never experienced was having a teammate who was/is a current NBA All-Star. He played with former All-Stars like Paul Milsap, DeMarcus Cousins and DeAndre Jordan, but never alongside a player who was also chosen by his peers as one of the best for the current season.
Finally, in his 11th season – a year in which he will play the fewest games in a single season in his career – Joker gets to travel to the All-Star festivities with longtime teammate and “two-man game” partner Jamal Murray.
Murray joined the Nuggets the season after Jokic did, so this is technically his 10th season (although he missed all of the 2021-22 season with a torn ACL.) While he’s been at his best during previous postseasons – earning the nickname “Playoff Jamal” – he’s helped the Nuggets make an historic run in “the bubble” to the Western Conference Finals in 2020 and also led them to the franchise’s first NBA title in 2023 – he’s most often battled nagging early season injuries that kept him from putting up All-Star stats in previous seasons.
Murray Could be Denver’s MVP This Season
Not so this year. If Denver goes on to win the NBA Western Conference and/or another NBA title, a case could be made for Murray being Denver’s MVP. During Joker’s 16-game absence, he put up amazing numbers, shooting almost 50% from the field and averaging 28 points and nine assists per game in January while facing almost constant double teams. Overall he’s scoring a career high 26 points per game. The Nuggets would not have gone 10-6, mostly without four regular starters, if Murray hadn’t been the healthy one.
And while several of the teams that have multiple All-Star selections will see their players facing off against each other, Joker and Jamal will be teammates on the eight-man International team that will battle a pair of eight-man squads made up of American born players. That is, assuming Jokic elects to play in the game on Sunday, February 15th in Los Angeles after just recently returning from a that left knee bone bruise.
The International Team Looking Very Strong for the All-Star Game
The International team figures to be the team to beat. That squad will have Joker and Jamal, San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama, Portland’s Deni Avdija, Pascal Siakam of the Indianapolis Pacers, the Lakers Luca Doncic and reining MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder. Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo could miss the game with an injury but if he isn’t available, he probably won’t be missed much. A logical replacement would be Houston’s Alperen Şengün.
The International squad will feature six of the past seven MVP winners (Jokic 3x, Giannis 2x and SGA) with the seventh having gone to Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid, who did not earn an All-Star spot this season. Wembanyama and Doncic are considered shoe ins to win MVP’s in the near future.
Mark Knudson Mark is a former MLB pitcher for the Houston Astros, Milwaukee Brewers and Colorado Rockies. He’s the only person ever to play high school, college and professional baseball in Colorado. Mark earned a BA in Technical Journalism from Colorado State University and has worked in radio, television and print sports media since 1994. He’s the co-author of “Pitching to the Corners” with former teammate Don August and the author of “Just Imagine,” a historical fiction novel about The Beatles.
Mark is currently a feature writer and columnist for Mile High Sports in Denver and recently joined the team at Heavy.com. Mark is also a high school baseball coach in the Denver area. More about Mark Knudson
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