Nikola Jokić’s advice on failure and how to copy his NBA success applies to more than basketball

Nikola Jokić gave some absolutely great advice about how to achieve success in life.

Everything’s coming up Nikola Jokić these days. 

The 2023 NBA Finals MVP has had quite a week, celebrating a championship with the Denver Nuggets and cementing himself as perhaps the best basketball player on the planet.

Jokić’s success is likely to be a shining star to guide future NBA players, and the Nuggets star is giving folks some insights into how he’s gotten to where he is. 

“If you want to be successful… you need to be bad, then you need to be good,” Jokić told NBA media this week. “Then when you’re good, you need to fail. Then when you fail, you’re going to figure it out… There is no shortcuts. It’s a journey.”

This is an incredibly humble and wise response from Jokić, a player whose gone from being drafted during a Taco Bell commercial break to playing some of the best basketball of any athlete around. 

Failure is always your best teacher, and it seems that Jokić knows as well as anyone that the journey to the top is paved with plenty of humility and hard-earned lessons. 

Nikola Jokic proved he’s just as awkward at parties as the rest of us during title celebration

NBA star or Average Joe, we’ve all been here.

After adding an NBA title and Finals MVP to his resume, Nikola Jokic is the league’s unquestioned best player in the world right now. Yet, despite some wholesome moments with his teammates, at times, it seemed like Jokic was actually kind of uncomfortable during the Denver Nuggets’ celebrations on Monday night.

I mean, Jokic did make his wishes to go home after the win pretty explicit, but there were more subtle nuances to his demeanor, too.

Take this NBA TV shot of the superstar center standing alone, holding a beer, as the Nuggets’ locker room goes wild around him. There is no simply no way the man is comfortable in his own skin at this moment, and I totally get it.

Heck, we’ve all been here, right?

You’re at a big party with friends, family, and lots of strangers, ideally to cut loose. But there’s just something off. There are too many people, they’re talking way too loudly, and you don’t like the music. You’d rather be cozy in a good pair of sweatpants at home while watching some halfhearted romantic comedy movie.

I’m sure Jokic enjoyed the biggest achievement of his NBA career to date. Who wouldn’t? But he still showed he was just like us, trying and failing to seem natural in a large crowd of people in a tight space.

Celebrate the Denver Nuggets’ first NBA Championship with all the official gear

The #Nuggets are NBA Champs, time to gear up:

After a back-and-forth affair, the Denver Nuggets upended the Miami Heat, 94-89, to take Game 5 of the 2023 NBA Finals. The win crowned the Nuggets this season’s champions, the first time in their franchise history that Denver hoisted the Larry O’Brien Trophy above their heads.

Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray dominated the series for the Nuggets. Jokic took home MVP honors after becoming the first player to ever lead the entire postseason in total points (600), rebounds (269) and assists (190)

Be sure to celebrate the win in Denver style. Check out the full line of 2023 Nuggets Championship gear below:

[afflinkbutton text=”Shop Denver Nuggets NBA Championship Gear” link=”https://fanatics.93n6tx.net/nLNzy7″]

Former Texas A&M player DeAndre Jordan wins NBA Championship before prior teammate Chris Paul

With the Denver Nuggets winning the 2023 NBA Finals, former Texas A&M basketball player DeAndre Jordan is officially crowned an NBA Champion for the first time in his career.

The Denver Nuggets are your 2023 NBA Champions, and there’s cause for celebration if you’re a Texas A&M basketball fan as well.

After beating the Miami Heat 4-1 in the Finals, the Mile High City officially welcomed their first NBA Championship in franchise history. But the city of Denver isn’t the only one celebrating their first ring. Former Texas A&M basketball player DeAndre Jordan, who donned the Maroon and White for the 2007-08 season, is officially crowned an NBA Champion for the first time in his career.

The Aggies basketball team made sure to recognize the achievement of the former player, releasing a well-deserved shoutout on social media:

Jordan has spent 15 seasons in the NBA, with many of his best years coming during a 10-year stint with the Los Angeles Clippers.

After being selected in the second round by the franchise in the 2008 draft, Jordan would go on to make the All-Defensive team twice and All-NBA three times while also being named a two-time NBA rebounding champion. Jordan was also an All-Star for the 2016-17 season after leading the league in field goal percentage (71.4%).

However, the one piece of hardware that eluded Jordan and those well-built Clippers teams was an NBA Championship. While in Los Angeles, Jordan and the Clippers had never even advanced past the second round.

Now, the former Aggie can add “NBA Champion” to his resume, and he just so happened to achieve the feat before a noteworthy teammate of his from the past:

All jokes aside, congratulations are for DeAndre Jordan, whose veteran leadership was invaluable for a Nuggets team that flashed their potential throughout the regular season and officially solidified their place atop the NBA mountaintop with a championship.

Salute to you, DeAndre, and congrats on the championship! As always, Gig ’em!

Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes, and opinions. Follow Pete on Twitter: @PeteThreee.

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The Nuggets won a title in the superteam era by focusing on continuity instead

Homegrown will always win out in the end.

This is the on-site version of FTW’s daily newsletter, The Morning WinSubscribe to get irreverent and incisive sports stories, delivered to your mailbox every morning. Here’s Robert Zeglinski. 

I appreciate that the city of Denver waited almost half a century for the Nuggets to finally win an NBA championship. To get the monkey off one’s back and see your favorite team win it all is a wonderful feeling of relief and joy. But I’m actually most impressed by the Nuggets’ faithful patience in their NBA squad over the years.

First and foremost, I think the Nuggets’ central figures should be commended. One, for taking their time. And two, for believing their road eventually had something special waiting at the end, no matter the inevitable roadblocks. In the NBA’s superteam era — where it feels like superstars are joining forces together every year in pursuit of hopeful greatness — these Nuggets stuck to their script.

I’m not surprised their key cogs were rewarded for it with a historic title.

At courtside, there’s Mike Malone. Once a renowned assistant turned maligned head coach who couldn’t get the previously bumbling Sacramento Kings to work, Malone was hired by the Nuggets in 2015. He’s been instrumental in developing their team culture every step of the way ever since. Despite some bumps in the road — Denver won a mere 33 games in Malone’s first campaign — he’s had nearly a decade to build the organization up to this uncommon climax.

And I can’t emphasize enough how rare that is. After Malone, the NBA’s next longest-tenured coach is Taylor Jenkins, who started with the Memphis Grizzlies… in 2019. Compared with his peers, Malone had all the time in the world to turn the Nuggets into a powerhouse, and they never blinked.

Next is Jamal Murray.

A former top-7 NBA Draft pick, it’s not shocking to see Murray become a difference-maker. However, it took the star point guard four seasons before the term “Bubble Murray” was coined as he became the ideal partner for Nikola Jokic. But then Murray tore his ACL and lost the better part of two years of his career. Two missed playoff runs. Two lost opportunities at championships. Two years where the Nuggets were content to let Murray take his appropriate time in recovery.

Not only because they clearly cared about him, but they also understood the wizardry he’d be capable of if he could get healthy. The Nuggets could’ve just as easily cut their losses and tried to play the free agent game. They could’ve tried to find someone, anyone else, that could complement Jokic. Instead, they waited for Murray, knowing he already worked so well in tandem with the league’s best player. Their belief in him paid off.

No story about these Nuggets is complete without Jokic. He is not only Denver’s leading catalyst but the preeminent example of what it means to develop homegrown players and give them confidence.

Some Nuggets scouts might profess otherwise, but no one in their right mind initially saw Jokic — a seemingly unathletic second-round pick out of Serbia — becoming this good. No one saw him slowly morphing into a legitimate No. 1 option for which opponents have zero answers. But the Nuggets’ coaches did. That’s why they played him at center. That’s why they gave him so much offensive responsibility. That’s why they let him comfortably grow at his own pace — because the potential was always there, and they had a plan.

And here Jokic is — the first center to win NBA Finals MVP since Shaquille O’Neal as the definitive heart and soul of a champion.

In a way, I might even argue the Nuggets did build a super-team. But they didn’t buy one. They built it from the foundation up.

Quick Hits: Replacements for Pat Sajak … a brawl at a Floyd Mayweather exhibition … and more. 

Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

Nikola Jokic threw Jamal Murray into a pool and showed they have the NBA’s best bromance

What a hilarious way to make a splash for two best friends.

It might be only the start of their mutual reign as NBA royalty, but it’s pretty evident that Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray are already great friends. The league’s new leading duo took a postgame dip together after winning the NBA championship in what might be the best public example of their strong rapport to date.

Well, I should say that Murray didn’t have much of a choice in the matter because Jokic simply took him along for the ride and threw his teammate in the pool.

On a night of pure jubilation for the Denver Nuggets, a video from the NBA that shows these two guys having the time of their life in the water probably stands out the most.

Find you a friend that wants to throw you in the pool while you’re holding a celebratory champagne bottle. Your life will be that much more enriched, I assure you.

Jamal Murray’s postgame appreciation tour with different Nuggets was so wholesome

These were all such beautiful moments.

It’s been a long road to the top of the NBA for Jamal Murray.

The point guard might be one of the biggest stars on the newly-defending champion Denver Nuggets now, but it took time for him to blossom into a difference maker. And when that happened, Murray tore his ACL, losing the better part of two seasons from his career before he became a key cog in Denver’s first-ever NBA championship.

So, naturally, no one should have been surprised to see Murray immediately reveling at the moment during postgame celebrations in Denver on Monday night. He seemed so especially emotional and appreciative while telling different Nuggets leaders — head coach Mike Malone, owner Stan Kroenke, and of course, his pal Nikola Jokic — how much he loves them.

Murray’s “tour” here, so to speak, is a perfect lesson for all of us in what we should do in celebratory occasions. When you reach the pinnacle of your professional life, it’s time to bask and tell the folks who helped you how much you love them.

The 13 best photos from the Denver Nuggets’ NBA Finals victory

This was a celebration years in the making for the Nuggets.

This has been a long time coming for Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets.

On Monday, the Nuggets bested the Miami Heat 94-89 in Game 5 of the 2023 NBA Finals to win their first ever championship in franchise history. The game was quite the chaotic one, and nearly ended on a pretty controversial call, but the Nuggets were able to flip the script on the Heat to win in front of their home crowd.

MORE NBA: See the moment the Denver Nuggets won their first NBA title in franchise history.

Now that the confetti has settled on the Nuggets’ historic win, let’s take a look at the best photographs from Denver’s well-deserved celebrations. Here are the 13 best photos from the Nuggets’ 2023 NBA Finals victory.

Nikola Jokic deservedly became the first center since Shaq to win NBA Finals MVP

Make some room, Shaq.

It’s been a long time since we’ve seen a big man dominate in the NBA Finals like the way Nikola Jokic did for the Denver Nuggets.

In fact, it’s been more than two decades.

Jokic — after notching a double-double of 28 points and 16 rebounds in Denver’s series-sealing Game 5 win over the Miami Heat on Monday — was deservedly named NBA Finals MVP. He is the first true center to win the award since Shaquille O’Neal did in 2002 for the Los Angeles Lakers. (Yes, Tim Duncan won a pair of Finals MVP between then and now, but come on, he’s a power forward.)

It’s an incredible accomplishment for Jokic, especially considering he was an overlooked second-round draft pick in 2014 — such an afterthought back then that Denver’s selection of him was announced during a Taco Bell commercial.

Now, he’s a champion and a Finals MVP, adding to his trophy case that also includes a pair of league MVP awards and five all-star appearances. After delivering a stoic postgame interview, Jokic celebrated with his incredibly cute daughter.

Across five games in the Finals, Jokic averaged 30.2 points, 14 rebounds and 7.2 assists per game.

I mean, just look at these stats:

It’s also fitting that a center won the Finals MVP award, considering this is the first championship since the death of legendary Boston Celtics center Bill Russell, whom the trophy is named after.

Nikola Jokic had the perfect response after winning a title: ‘The job is done, we can go home now’

What a legendary response from Nikola Jokic.

Nikola Jokic is an NBA champion at last!

On Monday, the Denver Nuggets bested the Miami Heat 94-89 in Game 5 of the 2023 NBA Finals, winning their first title in team history. Jokic had an absolutely unreal playoff run en route to helping the Nuggets to their first title in 56 years. Jokic even picked up the NBA Finals MVP for his incredible performance!

MORE: Nikola Jokic was drafted during a Taco Bell commercial. Now he’s won the NBA Finals.

And once the confetti had settled on the Nuggets’ win, Jokic had the most perfect response to being asked how it felt to have finally become an NBA champion.

“The job is done, we can go home now.” Indeed Jokic, indeed!