By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
While Denver Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic has made it abundantly clear that he doesn’t want to sit out a game unless an injury forces him to stay away from the court, coach Mike Malone would prefer to see him getting some time off the floor ahead of the playoffs.
“Nikola and I have been together for six years. We have a tremendous relationship. Coach – player, friend, whatever you want to call it. We’ve been having an ongoing discussion about that very subject. About potentially reducing minutes, potentially sitting out games. And that’s something that we’ll continue to look at,” Malone said after the Nuggets‘ 117 – 112 bounce-back win over the Charlotte Hornets.
Malone had previously mentioned how Jokic refuses to skip a game because that’s simply his mindset and how he learned to treat basketball in his home country. The Serbian big man and MVP favorite has played in every single of his team’s 69 matches in 2020-21 so far and is averaging 26.4 minutes overall.
The Nuggets have clinched fourth place in the Western Conference and are now competing with the Los Angeles Clippers for third. Malone, who has already lost Jamal Murray for the rest of the season, wants to ensure that Jokic will be healthy, fresh and with a lot more energy in his tank when the playoffs begin, instead of taking any unnecessary risks.
“On one hand I truly respect the hell out of Nikola. He has this immense amount of pride that he wants to play every night,” Malone said. “But we also have to be smart. Not only for Nikola but for our team. We have already sustained enough injuries, we don’t need the MVP – the clear cut MVP – to have any injuries going into the postseason.”