Will Jokic have pressure to repeat the championship?

After being champion, now the Nuggets and Jokic face the post-title challenge: How can they not settle? How to challenge yourself? How to stay hungry to win again?

1- What is Nikola Jokic’s main challenge in the next season?
What has been done so far by the Serbian center does not allow us to speculate or ask it to prove something. Winning the MVP of the regular season twice, being champion and MVP of the Finals does not speak more than the dominance of the ‘Joker’ in the NBA.

Without a doubt, I think the main challenge for him for the season ahead will be to maintain his dominance and continue to post triple-double records to lead the Denver Nuggets back into the championship race.

Staying healthy after a long season for him should also be among his points to take care of, because if Denver wants to endorse his championship (and he has everything to do it), the health of his figures, but mainly that of Jokic, will be key. The Nuggets are one with him on the court and the other with him off the court.

2- A key number or statistic for Nikola Jokic in the next season.

39. This was the number of triple-doubles that Nikola Jokic accumulated in 2022-23, adding regular season and playoffs. The 29th in the regular season was the highest number of his career thus far and made him the sixth player in history, and first center, to record at least 100 triple tens. With the 10 of the playoffs, a record of 56 years of these performances in the same postseason, which belonged to Wilt Chamberlain, was broken.

Any advanced number (14.9 win share, 31.5 PER, to name a few) mostly comes down to what Jokic brings to those facets of the game. In both the regular season (24.5 PPG, 11.8 RPG, 9.8 APG) and the playoffs (30.0, 13.5, 9.5), Jokic came within thousandths of averaging a triple-double. The Nuggets will remain a solid title contender as the Serb nears the triple double and at 28 (he’ll turn 29 in February) and the peace of mind that comes with a title, there’s no reason to think he can’t match or beat that stat in 2023-24.

In his case it is not about accumulating numbers; the Nuggets game begins and ends with the giant of Sombor. Denver is 85-20 in games ending with Jokic’s triple 10, including 26-3 last season. This is by far the best result among all those who accumulate more than 100 triple doubles. In these playoffs the argument was even more forceful: 9-1, including the supreme performance of 34 points, 21 rebounds and 14 assists in Game 1 of the Western Conference Final against the Lakers and the 32, 21 and 10 that was seconded by one by Jamal Murray (34-10-10) for the only time that two players from the same team achieved it in the same game.

3- True or false: Will Nikola have more pressure to repeat the championship?
TRUE. Although the starting five that will change Denver’s first championship in its entire history will remain intact, defending the title is not going to be an easy task for Nikola Jokic and his Nuggets. It is that to reach the promised land much more is needed than a powerful starting eleven.

In the final against Miami, the Nuggets found answers on their bench that allowed them to measure the wear and tear of Jokic and Murray. Players like Bruce Brown (12.0 points averaging, 56.2% shooting in 26.5 minutes), Jeff Green (4.1 points in 17.2 minutes) and Christian Braun (3.2 points in 13.0 minutes per game) gave the team a breath of fresh air when it needed it and their impact went beyond what the statistics say.

As of today, both Brown and Green are not on the roster and their replacements are players with little NBA experience. That is why it is foreseeable that Jokic will have more pressure to try to defend what he has achieved. Although the 28-year-old Serb looks more dominant than ever, one wonders if he can lead his Nuggets to the top only with the unconditional support of Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon, Michael Porter Jr. and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, albeit without a trusted bench.

It is true that there is still time to try to improve the roster until the competition begins. As it stands, though, there’s a sense Denver has lost valuable pieces while several rivals have managed to bolster themselves.

That’s why one would expect Jokic to face a steeper mountain than last season and the pressure to survive 82 regular-season games and four playoff series to be greater than last season.