Joel Rush: “He’s young, he’s gonna learn the game, he’s gonna learn the calls, he’s gonna learn everything, you know. He’s a big target for me. I really like to play with him. He’s a really good shooter, he’s attacking the glass, he’s a talented player.” -Nikola Jokic on Michael Porter Jr.
Nikola Jokic Rumors
All NBA Players
Position: C
Born: 02/19/95
Height: 7-0 / 2.13
Weight:253 lbs. / 114.8 kg.
Salary: $27,504,630
Born: 02/19/95
Height: 7-0 / 2.13
Weight:253 lbs. / 114.8 kg.
Salary: $27,504,630
Gregg Popovich compares Nikola Jokic to Larry Bird
Denver Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. became only the third rookie since 2000 to post consecutive 30-point double-doubles but it was Nikola Jokic who left Gregg Popovich feeling like he had just faced a Hall of Famer. “Porter is a fine young talent,” the San Antonio Spurs coach said. “And Jokic, he’s like a reincarnation of Larry Bird. He does everything. He’s amazing. They were great.”
Paul Garcia: Coach Pop on Porter Jr. and Jokic: “Porter’s a fine young talent and Jokic, he’s like a reincarnation of Larry Bird, he does everything.”
Marc J. Spears: Pops likens Jokic to Larry Bird and Moses Malone.
Kendra Andrews: Nuggets beat the Thunder 121-113. Nikola Jokic finished with 30 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists. Michael Porter Jr. with a career-high37 points and 12. rebounds. Monte Morris and Paul Millsap add 17 points each.
Kendra Andrews: Nikola Jokic says he doesn’t know if the hiatus was a benefit for the Nuggets or not. “We could go out there and be the best team, or be the worst team. I really don’t know.”
The 22 teams participating in the season restart feature 89 international players from 34 countries and territories, including the record eight international 2020 NBA All-Stars: Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee Bucks; Greece), Luka Dončić (Dallas Mavericks; Slovenia), Joel Embiid (Philadelphia 76ers; Cameroon; BWB Africa 2011), Rudy Gobert (Utah Jazz; France), Nikola Jokić (Denver Nuggets; Serbia), Domantas Sabonis (Indiana Pacers; Lithuania)*, Pascal Siakam (Toronto Raptors; Cameroon; BWB Africa 2012) and Ben Simmons (76ers; Australia).
2w
What has puzzled players, coaches, executives and doctors is the coronavirus, the faceless opponent that brought the league to Orlando, Fla., in the first place. For all of the safety rules enacted to pull off a restart they hope will remain viable into October, there are ample concerns, and few answers, about whether contracting COVID-19 could lead to health problems for players well after they depart the Disney World campus. Philadelphia big man Al Horford called it something “I personally worry [about] and not only career-wise, but just the rest of your life.” “Yeah, that’s discussed,” Clippers star Kawhi Leonard said. “If you do get it, will it affect you to be able to play again? Everyone knows it hits everybody’s body different. But I don’t know. I’m not a doctor. I can’t really say what’s going to happen to players.”
Cooper understood such fear of a stigma from his experience working with asthmatic athletes. But, he said, “there are plenty of examples of athletes with asthma who perform at the highest level, and I think there will be plenty of examples of people who have had COVID-19 whose physical performances are just not affected at all.” Since testing positive last month, Denver star Nikola Jokic has fallen into that latter category. While recovering in his native Serbia, Jokic was “feeling good and feeling normal,” he told reporters this month. Jokic was in the starting lineup when the Nuggets scrimmaged for the first time Wednesday. Jokic acknowledged some concern over what the virus could mean for his future. But because he could not control it, he said he‘s “not really worried.” “Hopefully nothing will happen,” he said.
Michael Singer: #Nuggets president Tim Connelly told @jimrome that he found out about Nikola Jokic’s positive COVID test when Jokic FaceTimed him at 6 A.M. from Serbia. Connelly said Jokic was more apologetic than anything and felt badly he wouldn’t be back in Denver in time.
Jokic, who’s been in the Orlando “bubble” for more than a week after he tested positive while in Serbia, said the NBA’s doctors can’t predict how the virus might impact him during a physically taxing postseason. “I cannot control that so I don’t want to think about it,” Jokic said. “We have doctors that are supposed to do their job, and they are doing their job at a really high level. We are getting tested every day. Whenever, whatever we need, the NBA team can provide us. I’m not really worried about that. … Hopefully nothing will happen.”
“I don’t know how many minutes, I don’t know how much I am going to play, but I want to play just to see how I am going to be there, just to get some wind in, just some running, just to play some live basketball,” Jokic said. He later added, “I can play however many minutes I need,” citing the seven-man victory in Utah on Feb. 5.
Fred Katz: Some All-NBA ballot info: LeBron James is eligible at both guard and forward — as are Ben Simmons, Jayson Tatum, Khris Middleton, Jimmy Butler and Luka Doncic. Anthony Davis, Karl-Anthony Towns, Nikola Jokic and Bam Adebayo are eligible at both forward and center.
Ohm Youngmisuk: Nikola Jokic says “he cannot control it” and “hopefully nothing will happen” as far as experiencing any long-term effects from having tested positive for coronavirus. Jokic was asymptomatic when he tested positive in Serbia. pic.twitter.com/EaO3NGWPAT
Katy Winge: Coach Malone on Nikola Jokic: “I’m just going to remind everybody once again: Nikola Jokic had lost a tremendous amount of weight way before the season was suspended. He was still playing at an all-NBA -first team All-NBA -level, prior to the league being suspended on March 11.
Jokic said the positive test came as a surprise, since he was feeling asymptomatic at the time, in late June, when he tested prior to when he was scheduled to fly back to Denver. “It was kind of weird, because I was feeling good,” Jokic said of the test result. “I was feeling normal. And when they said [the positive result], I was a little surprised because I had [a] normal-day routine, a workout and everything, and they called me and they said that I am positive. “Then, I called everybody and they said it’s fine, they said your health is the most important thing, which is right.”
Ohm Youngmisuk: Nikola Jokic told me last postseason he preferred playing at 275-280 so he can bang inside with bigs. Asked about that now with his weight loss, Jokic cracked, “Uhhh, yeah, I needed to say that because what you want me to say like? It’s an excuse for the weight but…I’m joking!”
Michael Singer: Nikola Jokic said his quarantine in Serbia wasn’t that difficult and compared it to a “vacation.” Said he was able to work out, presumably at his home in Serbia.
Michael Singer: Nikola Jokic on his weight: “I think I’m not supposed to tell you my pounds and my weight. Team policy. … I like that.”
Mark Medina: Nuggets center Nikola Jokic: “I didn’t lose that much pounds during quarantine. I’m pretty much the same weight as the last game of the season.” He said he lost anywhere between 3-5 pounds.
Nuggets All-Star center Nikola Jokic has still not arrived in Orlando as of late Sunday, Malone told reporters on a video conference call. “We’re still kind of working around all the details of getting him here,” Malone said. “No real update, but I know that his arrival should be happening relatively soon.”
Harrison Wind: Jamal Murray on Nikola Jokic rejoining the team: “If he doesn’t have (coronavirus) then that’s good. So I hope he doesn’t have it when he comes here and doesn’t contaminate the bubble. It will be good to have all of our teammates back.”
Nikola Jokic arriving in the bubble soon
Ohm Youngmisuk: Denver coach Michael Malone said Nikola Jokic “will be in the bubble very very soon and excited to see him.” No new arrivals yet today for the Nuggets among those who have yet to make it to Orlando but Malone said he expects a big arrival from Europe shortly.
Harrison Wind: Michael Malone doesn’t give a definitive date on when Nikola Jokic will arrive at Disney World, but says the hope is that he’ll be there in the next couple of days. He says he’s spoken with him often and that he’s in good spirits.
Nikola Jokic to join Nuggets in the next couple of days
The Denver Nuggets expect All-Star center Nikola Jokic to arrive in Orlando from his native Serbia to join the team for the NBA restart in the next couple of days, league sources told Yahoo Sports. Jokic tested positive for COVID-19 in June, but has since tested negative consecutively and is cleared to enter the campus at Walt Disney World.
This is a solid step for the organization after the initial shock of its franchise player contracting the virus outside of the United States. Jokic is in good health, sources said.
Ohm Youngmisuk: Nuggets GM Calvin Booth says about 3/4 of Nuggets travel party is in Orlando. Booth says the rest will trickle in once negative results come. He says Nikola Jokic is currently not “en route” but Nuggets are working on the logistics and Jokic is feeling good about his situation.
Harrison Wind: Booth says the Nuggets aren’t concerned about Jokic’s availability for the restart: “No, I don’t think we’re concerned at all. I think he’s excited about joining the bubble I think everybody realizes the opportunity that we have and they want to try and take advantage of it.”
Harrison Wind: More Booth on Jokic: “We’re trying to work out the logistics right now. He’s not en route as far as I know. I think he’s waiting just to get a proper flight and get out here. I think he’s feeling good about his situation and ready to go.”
Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic retested negative for the coronavirus in Serbia, but travel issues and the timing of the requisite testing made it difficult for the All-Star to join the team for its flight to Orlando, Florida, a source confirmed to ESPN. The Nuggets departed Denver for Orlando on Tuesday, but the team would not confirm who was on the team flight.
A source said Jokic is healthy. However, the center had to produce two negative coronavirus tests in Serbia before traveling to the United States. And then he was required to produce two more negative tests before flying to Orlando with the team. A source said the timing of everything made it difficult and too tight of a fit for Jokic before the team departed on Tuesday.
