“Nikola Jokić Overtook Michael Jordan”: Nuggets Star Becomes NBA’s All-Time Leader in Win Shares Per 48 Minutes

The Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokić has managed an incredible achievement in only his 8th season in the NBA. The Nuggets’ recent 142-105 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies saw Jokić produce an outstanding 26-point display which saw him boast a 100% efficiency in 11 shots. That represented a further push for his win-shares average, making him an all-time leader in win-shares per 48 minutes, according to Basketball Reference.

Jokić has an average of .2508 win shares per 48, which puts him only slightly above Michael Jordan, who managed a .2505 win share throughout his career. A win share is effectively the value that a player brings to a team’s victory in the context of his offensive and defensive stats against their overplaying time. A recent Reddit post by user u/Fraka9 explained the importance of the achievement, 

“After his crazy efficient game last night, he [Nikola Jokić] overtook Michael Jordan as the all time leader in WS/48 with .2508. Now he’s leading all time box plus minus and win shares and needs 2 or 3 more good games to lead the all time PER list.”

Nikola Jokic is now the all time leader in win shares per 48 minutes
byu/Fraka9 innba

In a nutshell, each victory represents a total of three win shares that are divided amongst the players and are considered the most accurate measure of a player’s value to their team. The statistic effectively measures how much value across defense and offense a player is able to provide to his team in their victories.

As one can expect, the suspected GOAT Michael Jordan led the way when it came to win-shares in the NBA thus far. However, such is the kind of value that Jokić provides across defense and attack, that his contributions effectively make for a big reason why the Nuggets have been able to win as many games as they have, in recent seasons.

This incredible achievement is bound to leave people in disbelief considering that Jokić at 28 is still in his 8th NBA season, and is only entering his prime. If he can continue producing in the same vein, that win-share statistic can be expected to get even better in the coming time. And with the kind of form he has recently been in, of course, nobody will be betting against Jokić to not continue playing like he has been.

Nikola Jokić does not care much about the hype surrounding him

Jokić has all the talent in the world to effectively become the face of the league. After having led the Nuggets to the title, Jokić is still extremely committed to living a life away from the constant attention that the NBA has lent to him.

According to Awful Announcing, the Serbian International revealed that he wants to lead effectively an anonymous life after his NBA career is over.

“Being famous, some people like it, some people don’t/ When I finish my career, I really wish nobody knows me. I wish my kid or kids in the future … remember me as a dad. I think that’s gonna be my goal in life,” he said.

Jokić went on to explain how he believes it is rude for people to try and record celebrities like him when he is out in public. He claimed that another big goal of his is to live a life without a mobile phone, which might come as a huge shock. However, Jokić is merely committed to ‘living in the moment,’ rather than living the life of a celebrity, as he does for the time being.