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Celebratory shirts once again delivered Nikola Jokic’s message.

The party appeared to start just after Jokic was presented with his second straight NBA Most Valuable Player award Wednesday in his hometown of Sombor, Serbia. There was a band in attendance and no shortage of drinks to fuel the singing and dancing.

“With some music and some beer. It’s pretty simple,” Jokic said Thursday on a video call from Serbia, describing the celebration. “And a little bit of Rakija.”

The popular Serbian spirit might have had something to do with the photo of Jokic spinning a hat on his finger while belting out a tune, but Jokic dryly directed further inquiries about consumption to Nick O’Hayre, Denver’s director of media relations. O’Hayre and the rest of the Nuggets contingent, which included coach Michael Malone and president of basketball operations Tim Connelly, who traveled to Serbia for the celebration were photographed wearing shirts sporting a simple phrase: “Some people want to see you fail. Disappoint them.”

After Jokic won Denver’s first NBA MVP award a season ago, the group donned shirts with popular criticisms of Jokic’s game – slow, can’t jump, out of shape, poor defender, 41st pick – on the front and the phrase “Joke’s on you” on the back.

“Felipe’s our designer of those shirts,” Jokic said, of Denver’s strength and conditioning coach, Felipe Eichenberger.

“This one is actually pretty simple. There is just the one sentence that describes everything. I think that’s something in the whole, global world – people like to see people fail. You can just disappoint them, so I really love the quote.”

The voices questioning Jokic’s credentials for the award seemed to be louder the second time around even though Denver’s center recorded career-highs in points (27.1) and rebounds (13.8). Denver, which finished 48-34 and made the playoffs for a fourth straight season, didn’t win enough games for some. Others argued advanced statistics overstated his impact, despite Jokic becoming the first player in NBA history to record 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 500 assists in a single season. The Nuggets' failure to beat the Golden State Warriors in the first round of the playoffs invalidated him in the eyes of some critics.

Jokic didn’t directly address his detractors in the wake of Wednesday’s celebration. He even admitted he doesn’t consider himself in the same company as Wilt Chamberlain, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan, three of the dozen other back-to-back MVPs.

“If you say those names anywhere in the world, (people) will know that. They did everything for the sport. They were amazing. They won a lot of championships, so I don’t know (if I can) compare myself with them, but just for my name to be there, I think it’s really cool,” Jokic said. “One day, someone is going to say my name with those group of guys.”

That’s worthy of celebration, but bringing the franchise’s first NBA championship to Denver would be cause for another party. That’s a bigger priority to Jokic than becoming the fourth player to win a third straight MVP.

“When you start playing basketball, you want to win something as a group, as a team,” Jokic said.

“All those individual awards is something that comes and goes. People are picking who is going to win it. A championship is you winning it.”

Of the 100 ballots for MVP, 65 picked Jokic as their first choice for MVP. His 875 points beat Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid (706) and Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo (595). Unfortunately for the usually reserved Jokic, that meant another media availability where he was asked about his historic individual achievements.

“I think I’m going to survive somehow,” Jokic joked. “If I don’t, there is some beer and some music. They’re going to help me.”

Whenever the celebration ends, Jokic said he’ll get back on Eichenberger’s plan that has helped him transform into one of the world’s best before his eighth NBA season.

“I think it’s really a nice journey,” Jokic said. “Hopefully, it’s not going to stop.”

View on denvergazette.com

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