Family matters: How fatherhood shaped three-time Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic’s sense of legacy

The best basketball player on Earth is leaving his legacy for later, but he’s viewing the concept a little differently these days.

“Being a father, that means that you don’t play just for yourself,” Nuggets star Nikola Jokic said Wednesday after winning his third Most Valuable Player award.

In addition to being one of nine players in NBA history with three MVPs, he’s a dad and an uncle these days. That means he’s spending a little more time thinking about the future, the kind long after his playing days are done.

“When you’re older, you don’t want them to look at your videos or whatever and say that you were bad,” Jokic said. “Hopefully, I can talk all the trash when my kid or my nephews grow up.”

Denver’s beloved do-it-all center isn’t leaving much room for backtalk. He was the Finals MVP in the franchise’s first championship run, and Joker’s joining a group of guys who only need one name to be recognized.

“When I won the first time, I was like ‘OK, this is cool. This is nice.’ When I won a second, the list was way shorter. Now, the list is kind of short, short. I’m just happy to be part of that group of guys, which is not a bad group of guys, right?” Jokic said.

“It’s a legacy for after the career. I think I’m going to be more, maybe, proud of myself after career than right now.”

After Philadelphia center Joel Embiid prevented Jokic from going four in a row by winning the 2023 award. Jokic reclaimed the award by averaging 26.4 points, 12.4 rebounds, 9 assists and 1.4 steals, all team-highs as Denver matched its franchise record for wins in a regular season.

“After winning a championship and being a Finals MVP, he’s had an even better season,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “He continues to push the envelope. He’s never satisfied, and that’s what all the great players have in common. They’re always striving to become even better.”

Jokic received 926 total points in the voting, to clear Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (640) and Dallas’s Luka Doncic (566).

“He’s out there every game, scoring, assisting, defending, doing a little bit of everything for this team. It feels like he’s available for every single game. He battles. He works. (He) works on his body. All that, while being a really good dude off the court, being a good person in the locker room, being a good person to whoever he runs into,” Christian Braun said after Denver’s practice Wednesday.

“He makes his own case, obviously. … He’s an amazing person, amazing player.”