Nikola Jokić will average a triple-double for the season, making the Denver star the third player in NBA history to pull off such a feat.
It became statistically inevitable Friday night when Jokić got his fourth assist of Denver’s game against the Memphis Grizzlies. That assist was his 700th of the season – so, even if he doesn’t get another before Sunday’s end of the regular season, which would be his 70th game, he is assured of averaging no worse than 10.0 assists.
The other players to average a triple-double for the entirety of a season are Oscar Robertson, a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, and Russell Westbrook, Joki’s current Denver teammate. Westbrook did it four times for Oklahoma City: in 2016-17, 2017-18, and 2018-19, as well as in 2020-21 for Washington; Robertson did it for Cincinnati in 1961-62. With about 52 seconds remaining in the first half, Christian Braun scored with an assist, securing the victory for Joki. It was not credited initially; the box score was updated at halftime. Additionally, Joki recorded his 34th triple-double of the season for the game. Joki, a Serbian star who, along with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of Oklahoma City, is a leading contender for the NBA MVP award this season and has won three of the last four awards, has more triple-doubles this season than any other three players combined. As of Friday, no other NBA player had scored more than 10 this season. Joki’s assist average will reach double digits for the first time this season. His previous career high came in 2022-23 when he had 24.5 points, 11.8 rebounds, and 9.8 assists. “When you have a guy like Jokić, who creates so much offense for his teammates, everyone’s going to have really good looks if you don’t do the right things,” Minnesota coach Chris Finch said earlier this month.
Jokić has also assured of finishing this season averaging a career-best in scoring and will likely end up with the second-best rebound average of his career as well. This season, he will also set career highs for three-point percentage and made three-pointers. To reach 30.0 points per game, Joki needed 73 points in the final two games of the season, against the Grizzlies on Friday and Houston on Sunday. If that happens, it would be the third 30-point triple-double average in NBA history; Westbrook and Robertson both did that once.
Jokić has 164 regular-season triple-doubles for his career, second-most in NBA history behind Westbrook’s 203. Joki is the second player in NBA history to achieve a season total of at least 30 triple-doubles; Westbrook is the only other player to accomplish the feat three times.
