It would be a perfect world where Victor Wembanyama would be able to recover from injuries without worrying about his DPOY eligibility. Or fans could count on Stephen Curry to make an MVP case while the Warriors get to rest him. And Nikola Jokic could still come back and play at an MVP level. However, a rule that\u2019s supposed to level the playing field is threatening his fourth MVP campaign.<\/p>\n
Nikola Jokic avoided the worst when he suffered a hyperextension of his left knee at the end of 2025. He\u2019s expected to be out till the end of January at least. He\u2019s hardly missed games, which gives him the extended break. Yet Adelman revealed tonight, \u201cHe\u2019s antsy, he\u2019s never been hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n
Advertisement<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not the injury as much as all the effort to average a triple double 29.6 points, 12.2 rebounds, 11.0 assists and leading the league in rebounds and assists, would be wasted if he doesn\u2019t play 65 games. His timeline is cutting it close with the NBA\u2019s mandatory attendance for awards eligibility.<\/p>\n
David Adelman addressed that very rule while giving an update on Jokic<\/a> ahead of hosting the Atlanta Hawks. \u201cI understand the 65 game rule, but a guy that never misses games for a decade, it bothers me a little bit. This is not somebody sitting out. He never sits out. He\u2019s anxious to get back.\u201d<\/p>\n His fourth MVP candidacy is very much alive. Nikola Jokic<\/a> is still leading the votes above Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Luka Doncic<\/a>. But getting the award also depends on his attendance.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n As per Adelman, Jokic is putting in effort at rehabbing his injury and working out. He lifts everyday to guage where he\u2019s at.<\/p>\n The anxiety is also about the inability to help a Nuggets team that has gone 3\u20132 in his absence while being shorthanded. Jamal Murray<\/a> is pushing himself to carry the team and Peyton Watson is on a breakout season.<\/p>\n Obviously, he\u2019s not completely there yet and it\u2019s adding to his anxiety. Something we never thought we\u2019d The Joker would be experiencing.<\/p>\n Why Nicola Jokic\u2019s Historic Triple-Double Season is in jeopardy<\/p>\n He was putting up MVP-calibre numbers when disaster struck. Jokic had 21 points, eight assists and five rebounds in 19 minutes in the first half against the Miami Heat when he had a run-in with a teammate. It caused the hyperextension of his knee, officially a non-contact injury.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n He didn\u2019t tear a ligament, won\u2019t need surgery, and it\u2019s not a season-ender. But he\u2019s the frontrunner to make NBA history with a fourth MVP title. In recent games, Luka Doncic is surging ahead to upset the odds while SGA could easily reclaim the title.<\/p>\n Nikola Jokic can\u2019t miss more than 17 games this season in order to win MVP. The rigidity of the player participation policy and his physical limitations are adding on to his anxiety.<\/p>\n A four-week timeline could mean missing between 14 to 16 games. Having already missed a handful of contests earlier in the season, Jokic would have no margin to miss another game. If he comes back early, he\u2019d need to be limited by minutes restriction. If his return pushes into February, he will be disqualified from the MVP race regardless of his historic production.<\/p>\n Even Victor Wembanyama had a scare with a hyperextended knee right after Jokic. The DPOY frontrunner however, can\u2019t miss more than five games this season. Which made him subtly call out the same rule.<\/a><\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Injuries have always played on the mind for elite players like The Joker. The star center is not used to missing games or having difficulties at workouts. With the 65-game rule, a standard rehabilitation is now a race against the clock.<\/p>\n The league wants to keep its players in the game. But when a player who doesn\u2019t take nights off suffers a freak accident, this rule starts too look like a penalty for bad luck.<\/p>\n The post Nuggets HC Reveals Nikola Jokic\u2019s Mental State as NBA Rule Threatens MVP Bid<\/a> appeared first on EssentiallySports<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It would be a perfect world where Victor Wembanyama would be able to recover from injuries without worrying…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":529395,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3781],"tags":[208,7,250,301,187,3943,71133,762,368,189,6171,6,73173,253,302,1146,209,573,693],"class_list":["post-529394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-denver-nuggets","tag-atlanta-hawks","tag-basketball","tag-david-adelman","tag-denver","tag-denver-nuggets","tag-denvernuggets","tag-hyperextension","tag-jamal-murray","tag-luka-doncic","tag-miami-heat","tag-mvp","tag-nba","tag-nicola-jokic","tag-nikola-jokic","tag-nuggets","tag-peyton-watson","tag-shai-gilgeous-alexander","tag-stephen-curry","tag-victor-wembanyama"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115876415162722547","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=529394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/529395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=529394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=529394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=529394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}