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“At 30, you are the perfect intersection of experience and possibility.”
– Sheryl Sandberg
So weird they got those balloons onto the court just in time. Huh.
Somewhere right around 11,000 days ago, a then-tiny magic Serbian baby was born to two adoring parents, and two (what I imagine were already giant) brothers. And before he was 11,000 days old, he’d magically come around to doing magic tricks (Magic tricks?) like this…
That little gem is what feels like one of 11,000 sleight-of-hand tricks Nikola Jokic has performed in a Denver Nuggets uniform. The gent who just turned 30 (365×30=10,950) just added his 30th triple double of the year, breaking a Nuggets single season record he set himself. Joker becomes one of only four players in NBA history to accomplish the 30-or-more-in a season feat, and the other three names now tend to be a part of every conversation that surrounds him: Russell Westbrook, Oscar Roberston, and Wilt Chamberlain.
Russ has accomplished the feat an astounding three times, including a season in which he totaled 42 (’16-’17), and an 11-game streak in the ’18-’19 season. Oscar had 41 in his greatest season (’61-’62), but never crossed the 30 mark again. Wilt’s peak was 31 in the ’67-’68 season, with only one other season in the 20’s (22). That’s how rare Jokic’s 2024-25 season has been. With eight games left to play, he won’t catch Westbrook’s or Robertson’s peaks, but no one could care about that less than Nikola. The odds of him surpassing Wilt’s best seem statistically high, with his current pace lending itself to another three or four triple-doubles this season.
Since 30 has been a big number for Jokic this year, how many of his 160 career triple-doubles were games in which he scored over 30 points? Incredibly, Nikola’s 39-point game Wednesday night was the 43rd time in his career he’s surpassed the 30-point plateau in a triple-double, including the never-before-achieved 30-20-20 game he bestowed upon us earlier this season. Put differently, over a quarter of his triple doubles exceed 30 points. Had he messed around and made one more free throw on Wednesday night, it would have been his sixth career 40-point triple-double. The data suggests he may not be human. It just took us 30 years to fully figure it out.
Should Jokic end up having the desire to suit up as long as he is able, his style could carry him as long as stalwart centers like Robert Parrish, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Dikembe Mutombo. Those big men played until the ages of 43, 42, and 42 respectively. Imagine another dozen years of the sort of magic Jokic can create, and the possibly hundreds of triple-doubles still at his fingertips.
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Joker’s current 738 games played is still less than half of Parrish’s career, or Abdul-Jabbar’s. To be fair, Robert and Kareem are #1 and #2 in all-time games played. But Joker’s durability comes from his methodical game. It’s a stretch to imagine, but if Jokic played as many games as Parrish, and at his current rate, he’d have 349 triple doubles by the time he was done. Could 300 triple doubles actually be within reach? The mind boggles. Is what he does magic? It sure feels a little like Magic, anyway…
It’s far more likely that the Nuggets recently-minted 30-year old won’t stick around another 12 or 13 years to further bend basketball’s blueprint. It’s far easier to see him inclined to equine. But whether the days of Nikola’s Nuggets are many or few, the capstone of his first three decades on the planet is to do something very few have even conceived of. 30 triple-doubles this year for the 30-year-old. That Thirty? It was Dirrrrrty.
(What the hell is he going to do when he turns 40?)
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