Shams Charania dropped a vital update about Nikola Jokic’s future with the Denver Nuggets under David Adelman.
The Denver Nuggets have been a team in turmoil these last few weeks. Just three games before the playoffs, the Nuggets fired former championship-winning coach Michael Malone.
David Adelman became the new interim head coach. But despite the changes, the Nuggets are doing well, currently holding a 3-2 lead over the Clippers in their first-round series.
Nikola Jokic continues to impress, not only fans, but also his teammates like Jamal Murray. So much so that Bill Simmons compared Jokic’s play to LeBron James in his legendary 2018 playoff run.
But with all these changes being made to the Nuggets, is Nikola Jokic‘s future with the team in jeopardy? Well, we’ve gotten a massive update on this from Shams Charania.
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Nikola Jokic ‘finally comfortable’ with Nuggets
Speaking on the Pat McAfee show, NBA insider Shams Charania revealed how Nikola Jokic is feeling on the Denver Nuggets.
He noted that Jokic is more comfortable in his leadership role under David Adelman and is using his power to influence his younger Nuggets teammates.
“When I talk to people around Denver, they say Nikola Jokic is finally comfortable with the power, influence, and who he is as a player.”
“Before, we hadn’t seen him as demonstrative or as vocal. But right now, he’s showing it. It’s not the power that he can yield. It’s not like ‘I can fire this coach’ or I can trade this player.’ It’s more like ‘How can I influence my teammates?’”
“This is the first time ever we’ve seen Nikola Jokic’s career where he is going about it every night and he’s trying to influence how his teammates are behaving, and how they’re playing…”
“When you see Nikola Jokic talking to some of his younger teammates on that roster, he’s as vocal as we’ve ever witnessed.”
Can Nuggets make playoff run with ‘more comfortable’ Joker?
The Denver Nuggets, at the time of this writing, look like they will head to a Game 7 with the LA Clippers, who are dominating them in Game 6.
The last Game 7 the Nuggets played was against the Minnesota Timberwolves, who they lost to at home to end their season.
Jokic and the Nuggets will be eager to make that memory one of the distant past. And the best way to do so would be to make a deep playoff run.
The Nuggets are definitely flawed from a roster construction standpoint. But when they have Jokic, the best player in the world, they have a chance to win a championship.
