Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic. Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

Is Nikola Jokic fed up with Nuggets?

By Sai Mohan | Last updated May 19, 2025 8:08 AM ET

When Nikola Jokic stepped onto the court for Sunday's Game 7 against the Thunder, it marked his 839th career game (playoffs included) when he played without an active All-Star, All-NBA or All-Defensive player.

Of the 5000+ players in NBA history, the Nuggets star remains the only one to play 700+ career games without such a teammate.

Even as the Nuggets continue to fail him, Jokic has maintained a positive disposition. When they let Bruce Brown and Jeff Green walk, he made light of the exits. When they cheapened out on paying Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, he again remained positive.

Last October, Kevin Garnett urged Jokic to speak out on how the Nuggets have taken him for granted and aren't doing enough to maximize his prime. It appears Jokic has finally heeded the advice.

After the Game 7 loss, Jokic flat-out admitted the Nuggets roster isn't good enough to win a championship.

"I mean we didn’t. So obviously we can’t."

—Nikola Jokic on whether the Nuggets can still win a championship as they're put together now. pic.twitter.com/GkFbRmS2cg
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) May 18, 2025

He took it a step further by pointing out that the remaining four teams in the playoffs have the luxury of deeper rotations. To put things in perspective, Denver's bench was so bad that it was a combined minus-70 through 14 playoff games — last by a wide margin. In comparison, OKC's bench is a plus-60 through 11 games.

Nikola Jokic: "It seems like the teams that have longer rotations, longer bench, are the ones who are winning." pic.twitter.com/ae0zsYWIVV
— DNVR Nuggets (@DNVR_Nuggets) May 19, 2025

Jokic has single-handedly made the Nuggets relevant for nearly a decade, leading them to multiple deep playoff runs and one NBA championship. But there's only so much he can do with unreliable fellow starters and a lack of a bench. The Serb's comments on Sunday suggest his patience is beginning to wear thin, and rightfully so.

The 30-year-old put together one of the greatest individual campaigns in NBA history, only for his organization to fail him again.

It's a shame, but also a reminder that teams prevail over solo heroics, especially when their strategy revolves around stopping one player.

Nikola Jokic this playoffs:

1st in points
1st in rebounds
1st in assists
1st in steals
1st in stocks
1st in double-doubles
1st in triple-doubles
1st in field goals

Insane run. pic.twitter.com/VHSdJ04Ave
— StatMuse (@statmuse) May 18, 2025

Nikola Jokic this season:

— 30/13/10
— 1st in triple-doubles
— 1st ever 30/20/20 game
— Most PTS ever in triple-double
— Most triple-doubles by a center
— 1st non-PG to average triple-double
— Top 3 in PPG, RPG, APG, SPG

Record breaking season. pic.twitter.com/lIOtdPjCOB
— StatMuse (@statmuse) May 18, 2025

Sai Mohan

A veteran sportswriter based in Portugal, Sai covers the NBA for Yardbarker and a few local news outlets. He had the honor of covering sporting events across four different continents as a newspaper reporter. Some of his all-time favorite athletes include Mike Tyson, Larry Bird, Luís Figo, Ayrton Senna and Steffi Graf.

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