West Notes: Nuggets, Nikola Jokic, Rockets, Kevin Durant, Clippers

In the event you thought Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic has nothing left to accomplish … well, you may not be totally right.

Per ESPN’s Zach Kram, Jokic is rapidly climbing the all-time leaderboard in MVP award shares — a Basketball Reference stat that measures both MVP wins and consistent finishes near the top of the voting. With three MVPs and two runner-up finishes in the past five years, Jokic now ranks seventh all-time, passing legends like Wilt Chamberlain, Shaquille O’Neal, Tim Duncan, Kobe Bryant and Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Kram notes that another top-tier finish in 2025-26 would push him past Bill Russell and Magic Johnson, and a couple more seasons like this could move him ahead of Larry Bird and even Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, trailing only LeBron James and Michael Jordan.

• Durant solves Rockets’ iso problem: Kram points out that Houston ranked just 22nd in half-court scoring efficiency last year, the lowest mark of any playoff team. Their isolation play was even worse, with Fred VanVleet, Amen Thompson and Jalen Green all struggling to create efficient shots against set defenses. The Rockets answered that weakness by landing Kevin Durant, who led the NBA in isolation efficiency last season at 1.21 points per possession. Kram writes that with Durant in control during late-game possessions, Houston’s offense should look dramatically different in 2025-26.

• Clippers build a bench: The Clippers were elite when their stars were on the floor last season, but their numbers cratered when Ivica Zubac or Kawhi Leonard sat. Per Kram, the front office addressed that weakness with a busy offseason: signing Brook Lopez as a backup for Zubac, adding Bradley Beal and Chris Paul on cheap deals to stabilize the backcourt, and trading for John Collins to add frontcourt versatility. They’re still an older roster facing a stacked Western Conference, but Kram says their upgrades give them a better chance to hold steady even when their top guys rest.