Nikola Jokic has been the most unorthodox superstar in the NBA for the last decade. A champion, three-time MVP and Finals MVP, he has managed to dominate the league while treating basketball as just a job.
And Dennis Schroder is giving the big man his flowers head of the 2025 EuroBasket.
“I find it fascinating that basketball really only comes second or third in his life,” Schroder said, via Magenta Sport. . “He enjoys spending time with his family and his horses. He lives for the things that matter to him.”
Schroder added, “He says he doesn’t want to be remembered in the books for basketball, but for how good he is as a father. But as a player, he’s the best in the world. Well, it’s just like that based on the stats and what he’s been doing in the league for the past three, four, five years, how he dominates.”
That dominance is supported by numbers few can match. Jokic has won three MVP awards in the last five years and finished runner-up the other two seasons, putting him in the company of Larry Bird and Bill Russell.
With a career Player Efficiency Rating of 28.51, he sits ahead of Michael Jordan and LeBron James for the best mark in league history. His 32.85 PER from one season also broke Wilt Chamberlain’s long-standing record.
Last season alone, he became the first player ever to record a 30–20–20 game, and his 61-point triple-double against Minnesota set a new standard for efficiency. He also joined Oscar Robertson and Russell Westbrook as the only players to ever average a triple-double over a full season.
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