No sports personality can underestimate the power behind a cool locker room like the one Nikola Jokic met at the Denver Nuggets during the early stage of his career. He got the needed motivation that propelled his desire to succeed in his career from sensible and caring teammates.
Regarding the period prior to Nikola Jokic’s growing popularity in his NBA career, a former teammate shared a wonderful and impactful story about how the Denver Nuggets locker room had influenced Jokic’s rise to MVP glory.
Jarred Vanderbilt exposes influence behind Nikola Jokic’s MVP journey
One of the reasons why Jokic has become such a great player today is because of the support he got from his Nuggets teammates. Jarred Vanderbilt talked about how the Nuggets’ locker room, especially players like Will Barton, motivated Jokic to aim for the MVP award.
“He was just different. Once he realized how nice he was and the impact he could have. When he was there, he was just always super nice. They were kind of pushing him, ‘Go get MVP’. I remember Will Barton was like, ‘Go get MVP, you can do that sh*t.’ Once he realized he could do that, it was over.”
Vando played for the Nuggets from 2018 to 2020, and Jokic won his MVP awards after Vando left. The media started recognizing Jokic’s MVP potential in 2019. So, the encouragement for Jokic to embrace his star status probably happened when Vando was still new to the team. Jokic has won two regular season MVP awards and a Finals MVP since then. Needless to say, his championship campaign with the Nuggets has made him one of the most legendary players in their franchise history.
Nuggets’ trade decision left Vanderbilt disheartened
When Vando first joined the Nuggets in 2018, he was a second-round pick. Regardless of him being a second-round pick, the team saw him as a player that had potential. They helped him develop, but things changed.
The Nuggets did really well in the 2020 playoffs thereby making it to the Western Conference Finals. Because of this success, the team decided to trade Vanderbilt and some other players in a big trade that brought in Keita Bates-Diop, Shabazz Napier, and Noah Vonleh.
Vanderbilt recently talked about how this trade made him feel. He said “Obviously I felt a little type of way, just because I never got to even prove myself to be on the team. I appreciate them. They took a risk on me when I wasn’t even able to play at the time and allowed me to rehab and get healthy. Obviously being able to learn the game, they taught me stuff on the court just as far as how to play… It’s always love going that way. But obviously, as a player and competitor, you want an opportunity to play, and I never got that.”
Vanderbilt now plays for the Los Angeles Lakers and saw the Nuggets beat his team and win a championship.
What are your thoughts on Jared Vanderbilt’s reflection on his Nuggets days? Share with us in the comments.
