Nikola Jokic is not ready to talk about being a GOAT Denver athlete

DENVER—If there were a Mount Rushmore for Denver athletes, Nuggets star Nikola Jokic would be on it as he’s cemented his spot as one of the best sportspersons to call Colorado home.

After winning his third MVP on Wednesday, Jokic now has as many MVPs as any other Denver sports franchise has. With the Nuggets lone title to boot, where he was the Finals MVP, Jokic is clearly arm in arm with John Elway and Joe Sakic for most accomplished Denver athlete.

It’s a conversation that’s just beginning and likely will be debated in sports bars around Colorado for generations. That discussion is one Nikola himself does not want to have, trying to cut off a question about it before it even began on Wednesday.

“We start with this now,” Jokic said trying to quell the Denver GOATs conversation. “I heard about them (John and Joe.) I don’t want to start this conversation. I think living in Denver and being a part of it, it’s cool. Even in hockey, it’s just enjoying the moment. I was here when we (the Nuggets) were not good and everybody talked bad to us. Enjoy the moment, the process, because it’s probably going to pass, everything passes and this will too. Enjoy the moment and be happy.”

Sakic won MVP in 2001 and Peter Forsberg captured the Hart in 2003—Nathan MacKinnon is expected to become the third Colorado Avalanche player to win the award for his performance this season. The Avs soon-to-be three MVPs equal that of Jokic’s total and it’s the same number for the Denver Broncos. John Elway won in 1987, Terrell Davis in 1988 and Peyton Manning in 2013.

The Colorado Rockies also had an MVP season, Larry Walker in 1997. That’s their one and only, which is all the Nuggets had before Jokic, as rookie Spencer Haywood took the ABA by storm for Denver in 1969-70.

Sakic and Forsberg both won two Stanley Cups with the former adding a third as an executive. The same is true of Elway, who won two Super Bowls as Denver’s quarterback and then another as the team’s general manager. The rings and MVPs will be big bullet points in the greatest athlete in Denver sports history conversation that Jokic doesn’t want to have.

What Jokic does want is to remain a part of Denver long-term. He’s long said he’s only going to play for the Nuggets but beyond that the Serbian native who is always trying to get back to his home country let it slip that he will be a Coloradan at least part-time after his playing days end.

“This is going to be my second home and hopefully I’m gonna come here after I finish my career and still have friends here,” Jokic said. “I feel the respect that they show me. You know, I’m hanging in Washington Park. And everybody’s treating me like really respectful and I really appreciate it. Nobody’s really, I’m going to say aggressively bugging me because I’m with my kid. They respect me and I really, I really, really appreciate that and they’re a really good fan base and I’m really happy that they are on our side every time and when we are down or up they are our sixth player. If I was born here, I would just be living in the moment right now.”

Nikola Jokic won’t really care where he ends up on Denver’s greatest athletes list, but he might overhear three friends screaming about Joker, John and Joe 20 years from now when he’s back strolling through Wash Park.

Nikola Jokic speaks in depth about his relationship with the fans in Denver and him seeing himself coming back here once he retires. pic.twitter.com/UYEBdeou2Z

— Jake Shapiro (@Shapalicious) May 9, 2024