Nikola Jokic has been magnificent in his postseason debut this spring. He’s averaging 23.9 points, 12 rebounds, and 8.6 assists as he’s led Denver to the second round and established himself a mostly unstoppable force.
But to the layperson, Jokic probably doesn’t look like the type of physical specimen you might associated with such feats of athletic prowess in the sports realm. Even the most generous assessment of his physique is that he lacks the type of muscle definition you’d expect from a professional athlete playing at the top of his game.
Jokic is well aware of this perception. He’s battled issues with weight management and nutrition since he arrived in the NBA, and despite the popular expectation that our athletes be cut from stone, Jokic argues that he prefers to play with a little extra weight than might normally be accepted so that he doesn’t get pushed around in the paint by the other pituitary giants he has to face on a nightly basis.
Via Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN:
He jokes about the changes in his body from the time he arrived in Denver.
“There were not any muscles,” Jokic deadpans. “Now around 292, but I have a couple of muscles.”
“To be honest, I like to be a little bit heavier like how I am right now,” Jokic says. “I was lighter than this, say 15 pounds. But I didn’t feel right. Because the guys are pushing me, I was not that heavy, I was light. I just needed a little bit more weight to keep up with those guys.”
Nobody is pushing Jokic around now. First the Spurs, and now the Blazers are scratching their heads at how to slow him down. Even TNT’s Charles Barkley, who knows a thing or two about throwing his weight around, said during a broadcast that the Portland forwards “don’t have enough weight in their a–” to guard Jokic.
Still, the Blazers managed to even up their series in Game 2 despite Jokic’s big numbers, and now he and the Nuggets will have to a face a hostile crowd at the Moda Center this weekend as they try to maintain control of the series.
(Via ESPN)
