The NBA has a serious problem, and its name is Nikola Jokić. The Denver Nuggets center is not merely having another MVP-caliber season; he is constructing a campaign that defies modern basketball logic, achieving what can only be described as “Wilt Chamberlain type stuff.” While leading his team to a top seed in a brutal Western Conference, Jokić is putting up numbers that look unreal: nearly 30 points, almost 13 rebounds, and over 11 assists. Coupled with an elite efficiency that features some of the cleanest shooting ever seen from a big man, Jokić’s individual dominance is forcing the league to confront a level of greatness rarely witnessed.
But the real fear for the rest of the league is not just Jokić’s singular brilliance—it’s the terrifying truth that the Denver Nuggets have quietly used his historic run to mask two massive, season-defining improvements that have made them an absolutely complete, championship-level machine. The weaknesses that plagued them in past seasons have been systematically eliminated, making this version of the Nuggets a serious, perhaps unanswerable, problem.
The Unprecedented Era of the ‘Joker’
To understand why the league is in trouble, one must first appreciate the magnitude of what Nikola Jokić is accomplishing. The Serbian center is not just accumulating statistics; he is fundamentally breaking records that measure pure, unadulterated impact.
Right now, Jokić is sitting on a Player Efficiency Rating (PER) of 37.0. This is not just the highest mark of his career; it is the highest single-season PER the league has ever recorded, surpassing legends like Giannis Antetokounmpo and Wilt Chamberlain. It is, quite literally, the new gold standard. This isn’t just about volume; it’s about efficiency. Jokić is holding the most efficient 30-point season ever, ahead of scoring icons like Stephen Curry.
The superlatives don’t stop there. He is already top three all-time in triple-doubles, rapidly adding to his total almost every week. More strikingly, he is number one in NBA history in Win Shares per 48 minutes, a stat designed to measure pure impact, sitting ahead of Michael Jordan, LeBron James, and Wilt Chamberlain. When scanning the league leaderboards, his name appears everywhere: rebounds, assists, defensive boards, offensive rating, win shares, and box plus/minus.
This dominance is rooted in a highly surgical, unstoppable offensive game. He is shooting a crazy 69% on effective field goals. He is arguably the cleanest playmaker in the league while simultaneously being one of the most efficient scorers. His mid-range numbers are staggering—66% from 3 to 10 feet and 67% from 10 to 16 feet—making those shots look automatic. Due to his footwork, size, and control, there is virtually no defensive scheme built to stop someone that precise, as he hits his favorite spots at nearly a 70% clip. The result of this offensive mastery is reflected in their net rating: the Nuggets score an extra 22.4 points per 100 possessions when Jokić is on the floor, placing them in the 99th percentile.
The Championship Composure Test
While the historic numbers are compelling, every great team eventually faces a moment that defines its true character. For the Nuggets, that moment hit hard during a road matchup against the Houston Rockets. Rolling into Houston without two key starters, Aaron Gordon and Christian Braun, the night should have been a trap game pointing toward a slip-up.
Instead, Denver flipped the entire vibe, not just stealing a win, but controlling the pace and looking like that same calm, dangerous veteran crew that lifted the title. They handled Houston’s aggressive, rhythm-disrupting defense by holding the Rockets to just 12 points in the first quarter, battling through 17 offensive rebounds, and still remaining composed when the pressure ratcheted up.
The win came down to three things, but the most vital was Jokić basically solving every single thing Houston threw at him. Whether it was hitting every mid-range shot he was dared to take, calming things down when Jamal Murray struggled early, or guarding his counterpart straight up, he controlled the game’s flow. Nights like this don’t happen by luck; they happen because a superstar knows exactly when and how to take full control. It demonstrated the Nuggets’ championship-level composure, moving like a group that has been through and survived these pressure moments over and over again.
The Unspoken Defensive Revolution
The most slept-on component of Denver’s terrifying ascent is the fundamental shift in their defensive identity. During the offseason, the Nuggets committed to becoming a top-10 defensive unit, and they didn’t just meet that goal; they blew past it. The team is now sitting fifth in the entire NBA in defensive rating, holding teams to 112.2 points per 100 possessions.
This defensive jump is anchored by Jokić, whose defensive level has reached an indispensable point. Any notion that he is a weak defender “just isn’t watching closely” anymore. While he lacks explosive hops or crazy speed, his high-IQ instinct, perfect timing, and sharp positioning allow him to shut down actions before they begin. He is the steady piece holding the entire defensive structure together, protecting the rim with the exact discipline you want from a true anchor. Rotations that are sharp, like Jokić sliding over to shut down the baseline pass or jumping an angle to cancel a pass, show he is seeing plays two steps ahead.
Last season, Denver’s biggest problem was that their playoff-level defense only showed up once the postseason began. This year, that level is here early, and the win over Houston confirms it. Holding a top-three offense to 12 points in a quarter is not luck; “that’s structure, that’s game planning and that’s the team buying in.”
The Stabilized Second Unit
Historically, the Achilles’ heel of the Nuggets has been the non-Nikola Jokić minutes. The perennial question was always: how do they stay afloat when the MVP rests? Last season, the answer was disastrous, featuring a minus 9.8 net rating when he went to the bench, which plummeted to a brutal minus 31.1 in the playoffs—the worst mark in the entire league.
This season, the shift is undeniable. Thanks to smart offseason decisions, Denver has built a second unit they can finally trust. While the non-Jokić minutes still sit at a minus 6.6 net rating, this marks a substantial upgrade and provides the team with exactly what they need: stability. With Jokić producing a plus 17.4 net rating while on the floor, simply keeping the lead steady while he rests is a monumental win for the squad.
Players like Peyton Watson have grown into legitimate defensive rotation pieces. When Jokić sits, Denver is no longer collapsing, as the drop-off is smaller, the rotations are sound, and the squad looks far more organized.
Jamal Murray’s Regular Season Awakening
Finally, none of these improvements matter without the second star locking in, and this year, Jamal Murray has done just that. Murray has always been known as a postseason problem, a player who elevates when the lights are brightest. However, his regular season consistency was often questionable. That narrative is dead. This year, Murray looks like a completely different player.
He is averaging a career-high 22.8 points along with 6.5 assists and 1.2 steals on 54% effective field goal shooting. Crucially, he is treating the nightly grind “way more seriously.” He is more physical, more aggressive, and more locked in, attacking mismatches immediately instead of waiting for the game to come to him. For the first time in his career, he looks like a real All-Star from October onward, playing at that level every single week.
This commitment alleviates the immense burden on Jokić, allowing the offense to breathe. Murray demonstrated this clearly in the Houston game, starting slow but taking over in the second half, hunting mismatches and knocking down a clutch mid-range dagger. He even made the “smartest defensive read of the night” by jumping a pass to save the game. This wasn’t some isolated ‘Playoff Murray’ moment; it was the same Jamal the league has been watching for weeks—the version who cares about November basketball.
When both of your stars are playing like this in November, your ceiling changes in a big way.
The win over Houston was a statement: a real test handled with control from start to finish. This iteration of the Denver Nuggets—led by a historically dominant MVP candidate and supported by an elite defense, a reliable bench, and a fully committed co-star—has flipped every weakness into a crushing strength. The Nuggets have officially reached an absolute peak, and the rest of the NBA must now find an answer to a problem that seems utterly unsolvable.
