Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic. Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Nikola Jokic eclipses Larry Bird's longstanding record

By Sai Mohan | Last updated Jan 15, 2025 8:12 AM ET

Long before stat-sheet stuffers like Nikola Jokic, Luka Doncic and LeBron James came into the fold, Larry Bird dominated each category of a box score while leading his Celtics to glory. In doing so, Bird was the fastest player to reach 15,000 points, 7,500 rebounds and 5,000 assists, achieving the trifecta in 799 regular-season games.

On Tuesday, Bird's longstanding record, set during the 1990-91 season, was eclipsed by Jokic. Remarkably, the Nuggets star reached the milestone in 90 fewer games and his age-29 season. In comparison, Bird was in the penultimate year of his career in his age-35 season. Bird would retire after just 897 games due to severe back issues.

With his 8th assist tonight, Nikola Jokić just became the fastest player to reach 15K+ PTS, 7,500+ REB, and 5K+ AST, doing so in just 709 games.

The fastest previously? Larry Bird at 799 games. pic.twitter.com/zjqjZRBtcN
— NBA (@NBA) January 15, 2025

Jokic made history on several other counts Tuesday by dishing out his 5,000th assist. He became only the second center in history to reach the milestone after Bucks and Lakers great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Nikola Jokic joins Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the only centers in NBA history to record 5k AST. pic.twitter.com/iD8DsIw9kP
— StatMamba (@StatMamba) January 15, 2025

Jokic finished with 10 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists — the 146th triple-double of his career — as the Nuggets blew out the Mavericks, 118-99, to improve to 24-15 for the season. Jokic is in a tight battle for the MVP award with Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who has rightfully emerged as the favorite to capture the Michael Jordan Trophy.

Yet, there's no reason to believe Jokic can't overtake SGA in the race as we enter the second half of the season. The Nuggets have started the new calendar year with a 6-2 record, riding on Jokic's averages of 29.0 points, 14.7 rebounds and 11.3 assists. For the season, the Serb is averaging 31.2 points, 13.2 rebounds and 9.8 assists. He's trying to become only the third player in history to average a triple-double for a season after teammate Russell Westbrook and Oscar Robertson.

Nikola Jokic in 2025:

10 PTS - 14 REB - 10 AST
19 PTS - 18 REB - 9 AST
35 PTS - 15 AST - 12 REB
46 PTS - 10 AST - 9 REB
41 PTS - 18 REB - 9 AST
23 PTS - 17 REB - 15 AST

Denver is 6-2 during this stretch pic.twitter.com/04XI97EUiN
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) January 15, 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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