Nikola Jokic doesn’t have much left to prove on the offensive end. The Denver Nuggets star is still the best player in the world, even if the gap is closing fast with Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs. But if Jokic wants to get back to the top of the MVP race, the path is pretty clear: he has to give Denver better defense.
That’s the piece that has separated him from another trophy. Jokic remains the NBA’s most dominant offensive force and one of the best ever, and he made history last season by becoming the first player in league history to lead the NBA in rebounds and assists in the same season.
Even that wasn’t enough to get him a fourth MVP. Voter fatigue may have played a part, but his defensive drop-off over the last two seasons compared with his last MVP year clearly mattered too.
The most obvious issue is what happens around the rim. Jokic is never going to be a true shot-blocking anchor; he has never averaged more than 0.9 blocks per game in a season.
But he can be better than the version Denver has gotten at times during the regular season. In the playoffs against the Minnesota Timberwolves, he was better than the numbers on the scoreboard might have suggested.
Minnesota shot 57.1% from inside six feet with Jokic as the primary defender, a mark that sat 9.5% below the league average of 66.6%.
The bigger picture tells the story even more clearly. In 2023-24, when Denver’s defense was much stronger and finished eighth in defensive rating, Jokic ranked 13th among 90 qualified players defending the pick-and-roll.
That was the season he won his third MVP. The next year, his pick-and-roll defense slipped to 68th among 78 qualified players, and the Nuggets fell to 21st in defensive rating.
They were 21st again in 2025-26, and Jokic finished second in MVP voting for the second straight year.
Part of that can be traced to scheme, and Denver is hoping that changes this season under new assistant coach Dave Joerger, who has a track record of improving defenses over his coaching career. If that happens, it could put Jokic back in position to chase another MVP.
The voting has made the message pretty plain: defense matters. For Jokic, tightening that end of the floor is the clearest route to a fourth MVP, and it would also give the Nuggets a better shot at going deeper in the 2026-27 playoffs.
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