The Center Who Runs the Offense
June 2023. Nikola Jokić, the 41st pick, passes Denver to its first title
Nikola Jokić was born in Sombor, Serbia, on 19 February 1995, and played for Mega Basket before the NBA. In the 2014 draft, the Denver Nuggets took him 41st overall. On the ESPN broadcast, his pick only showed up on a news ticker during a Taco Bell commercial.
Centers were usually the players who finished plays, not the ones who started them. Denver did the opposite. From December 2016 the Nuggets built their offense around Jokić, a 2.11 m (6 ft 11 in) center who ran it from the high post, the area around the free-throw line, passing to teammates or rolling to the rim. He won the MVP award in 2021 and 2022.
In the 2023 playoffs he had 10 triple-doubles and became the first player to lead a whole postseason in total points (600), rebounds (269) and assists. In Game 3 of the Finals against the Miami Heat, he had 32 points, 21 rebounds and 10 assists. Denver won the series 4 to 1, closing it out 94 to 89, for the franchise's first title. Jokić was the unanimous Finals MVP and the lowest draft pick ever to win the award.
What changed
The best passer on the floor can be the center. Running the offense through a big man at the high post lets cutters and shooters play off him, and more teams began asking their bigs to read the defense and pass, not just score and rebound.