Forty players were selected before Nikola Jokic in the 2014 NBA Draft. The contrast with what followed is so dramatic that it can sound like a story someone improved in the retelling.
It does not need improving. Denver chose him 41st, and he later became the centrepiece of the franchise's first NBA championship.
The more interesting question is how a player in his position came to organise an entire attack. Jokic is a centre, but treating him only as the man waiting near the basket misses much of what makes him difficult to defend.
The draft number that became part of the legend
Being selected in the second round is not proof that a player will succeed or fail. It describes how teams valued that player at one moment.
Jokic's career makes that distinction impossible to ignore. The draft is a forecast under uncertainty; a career is what happens afterwards.
The famous television detail adds to the contrast: his selection occurred during a Taco Bell commercial. It is memorable because it places an ordinary broadcast interruption beside an extraordinary future.
The advertisement did not cause the oversight, and the story should not replace the basketball. It simply captures how little public ceremony can accompany a player who eventually becomes central to the league.
A championship that changed Denver's history
In 2023, Jokic led Denver to its first NBA title and won Finals MVP.
The achievement gave a team result to accompany the individual recognition already attached to his name. A brilliant regular season and a championship campaign are related, but they ask different questions.
A playoff opponent can return to the same matchup repeatedly, alter the coverage and look for a weakness. The attack must keep creating useful possessions after the first surprise has gone.
Denver's success provides a reason to study the connections around Jokic: the cuts, the screens and the movement after an initial pass. The centre's influence is amplified when teammates recognise the same opening.
The Finals box score that stretched the definition of a centre
In Game 3 of the 2023 Finals, Jokic produced 32 points, 21 rebounds and 10 assists—the first 30-20-10 performance in Finals history.
The numbers matter because they point towards several jobs happening together.
A defensive rebound can become the beginning of an attack. A touch near the elbow can become a handoff, a pass to a cutter or a scoring opportunity. A post-up can draw help and make someone else available.
The unusual part is the concentration of those decisions in one player. The traditional separation between the organiser and the finisher becomes less useful when a centre can perform both roles within the same possession.
He led three postseason totals at once
Jokic finished the 2023 playoffs with 600 points, 269 rebounds and 190 assists, leading all players in each of those totals.
These were cumulative playoff numbers, not regular-season averages or a claim that he led every statistical category.
That distinction makes the achievement clearer. Scoring, rebounding and creating baskets were combined across a sustained championship run.
It also reveals why a single label can feel inadequate. Calling him a scorer leaves out the passing. Calling him a passer leaves out the scoring pressure that helps those passes work.
The defence has to account for the whole package. Removing one option does not necessarily end the possession.
Three MVP seasons, with the dates attached
Jokic won the regular-season MVP award in 2021, 2022 and 2024.
Those years are historical achievements, rather than an assertion that this list represents his final career total.
Multiple MVP seasons suggest repeated influence, not one exceptional month. But the award still cannot explain the mechanics on its own.
To see those, watch a possession before he receives the ball. The passing angle, the location of the nearest defender and the movement of a teammate may already determine the next action.
An apparently simple pass can be the end of a much earlier read.
Why doubling him creates another problem
Sending an extra defender towards a dangerous scorer is a familiar response. Against an excellent passing centre, that response transfers risk.
The defender leaving a teammate has created space somewhere. The challenge is whether the offence can identify and use it before the defence rotates.
Jokic can make that window feel larger because the release may come quickly and from a useful angle. The receiver still has to finish, shoot or make another pass. Playmaking is a shared process, not a magician operating without teammates.
A patient possession can be especially uncomfortable for defenders. The centre does not have to rush simply because help has arrived. Holding position for an extra moment can reveal which rotation the opponent intends to make.
The teammate movement behind the highlight pass
A no-look delivery attracts attention. A precisely timed cut often receives less.
Yet the pass and the cut depend on each other. Move too soon and a defender can follow; move too late and the opening disappears.
That is one reason to watch Denver possessions away from the ball. The centre's decisions make more sense when the movement around him is visible.
It is also a useful correction to the idea that passing automatically means passive play. An accurate delivery can be the most aggressive available action if it attacks the weakest part of the defence.
Why the story is bigger than being underestimated
The 41st pick is an excellent headline, but it is a beginning rather than an explanation.
The basketball lies in the repeated decisions: when to score, when to hold position and when to let a teammate finish the possession. Those choices create the connection between individual skill and a functioning attack.
Jokic's early championship-era milestones show how far a second-round selection can travel. The more rewarding lesson is that a centre can control a game without every possession looking like a traditional centre's possession.
Sources: NBA draft history, championship reporting and official MVP records. Statistical milestones above refer to the specified seasons.
https://www.nba.com/news/how-the-2023-nba-finals-rosters-were-built-denver-nuggets
https://www.nba.com/news/nikola-jokic-2023-bill-russell-nba-finals-mvp-award
https://www.nba.com/news/nba-starting-5-dec-29-2023
https://www.nba.com/news/nikola-jokic-2023-24-kia-mvp
Image: Erik Drost, February 2022, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/). Existing Commons crop displayed at reduced resolution; no additional edits: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nikola_Jokic_cropped.jpg