Nikola Jokic has arrived for the 2026-27 NBA season.

He’s been in Denver. He’s been on the team planes and in the team hotels. He’s been warming up and playing the games and cooling down. And even picking a few fights with his fans.

But not until Wednesday night did he arrive in his true home away from home, the paint at Ball Arena, where he scored 26 of his 32 points to lead the Nuggets to a 128-109 rout of the Raptors. Six games into the season, the three-time MVP center had been averaging only 12 points in the lane. It was enough to raise questions from prominent NBA pundits as to whether Jokic’s decline has begun.

Reports of his demise may have been premature. Jokic had his 201st career triple-double by the end of the third quarter against Toronto. After spearheading a 41-15 third quarter, he was given the rest of the night off. He finished Denver’s first blowout win of the year with 32 points (13-for-19 shooting), 10 rebounds, 11 assists, three steals and only two turnovers.

He even guarded Raptors star wing Scottie Barnes for a few minutes at the end of the first half, a gimmick defensive tactic from David Adelman and Jared Dudley that somehow worked in throwing Toronto off. The Nuggets (4-3) shaved a 10-point deficit to three by halftime, setting them up for their most emphatic quarter of the young season.

Six Nuggets finished in double figures. With DeMar DeRozan scratched at the last minute because of back spasms, rookie Bryce Hopkins took advantage of his minutes, compiling 18 points on 6-of-6 shooting. Aaron Gordon went for 17 points and a key block as Denver was mounting its second-quarter rally. Jamal Murray managed 14 points, five boards and seven assists on a relatively quiet night by his recent standards.

But Jokic’s renewed life was Denver’s. He had struggled to establish himself at the elbows and on the block early in the season. His willingness to fight through crowds of defenders was gone. His post touches were down. It wasn’t by design.

“I think a lot of it’s been the pressure,” Adelman said. “We’ve had to initiate offense earlier, which leads to him at the top of the key, which is a lot more five-out. Tried to make a concerted effort last game to get him in the post. Obviously, he’s gonna read and react. So a lot of the rip-screen stuff to get him to the block; if (defenders) go under (the screen), sometimes it leads to more side pick-and-roll where he picks and pops against the coverage. But would love to see him more down there at the block. Obviously, your post offense is dictated around the shooting that’s around him, so sometimes play calls or concepts, whatever you want to call it, it’s the four guys who are out there with him, too.”

Toronto started the switchable Collin Murray-Boyles at center over usual starter Jakob Poeltl — a formidable matchup challenge for the struggling Jokic. Christian Braun fed him an interior touch on Denver’s first possession of the game, and when no help came, Jokic bullied his way to the rim for a layup. He continued attacking mismatches and single-coverage until Toronto was forced to start crowding the paint more. He had 13 points and 10 shot attempts by the end of the first quarter.

Murray-Boyles and Barnes took turns guarding him, fronting him in the post and aggressively swiping at the ball when he had it — Jokic was left mystified when the refs didn’t award him continuation for a rip-through move that drew a foul on Murray-Boyles and could’ve been a 4-point play.

When Barnes and Poeltl played together eventually, the Raptors hid Poeltl on Nuggets rookie Trevon Brazile to keep Barnes, one of the game’s elite defensive power forwards, on Jokic. They’ve been one of the best-equipped teams to put a big wing on him over the years, dating back to OG Anunoby’s time in Toronto.

Slowly, Jokic learned to be unbothered by double-teams throughout the game. The Nuggets won his 30 minutes by 25 points.

It helped to have Cam Johnson available after an injury scare to his left hamstring Monday. He brought the spacing Denver needed to punish Toronto at times, shooting 4-for-8 from outside the arc.

“It’s one of those random times — maybe the first time in the last six years — where (the doctors) say, ‘Yeah, it doesn’t look great, and then the next morning it actually is better than they said,’” Adelman joked before the game. “It rarely goes that way. So it was really good news to wake up to. … The last two years, I woke up thinking (the injured player had a) grade two hamstring, and see you in four weeks. We’ve had a lot of those. As a lot of people have in the NBA over the last couple years. So it was the best-case scenario news.”