Nikola Jokić, the Most Valuable Player of the Year in the 2020-21 season, can be called an NBA Ironman. He played well in the regular season for two consecutive seasons and also worked overtime in 43 high-intensity playoff games. This also made the Golden Nuggets team begin to consider Load manage him.
In a recent interview, Golden Nuggets head coach Mike Malone said that Jokić would rest for 5-10 games in the 2021-22 season.
Nikola Jokić averaged 34.6 minutes per game in the 2020-21 season, scoring 26.4 points, 10.8 rebounds, 8.3 assists, 18 shots in a single game (10.2 goals), and 29.6% usage rate (USG%), all setting career highs.
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In the past two seasons, Jokić has played 5,863 minutes, the highest in the league, 433 minutes more than second-placed Jayson Tatum, which is definitely an ironman-level playing data.
In the second round of this season against the Suns, Malone already said that Jokić was a little exhausted. Jokić also announced his withdrawal from the Tokyo Olympics to gain more rest time.
Although Jokić will not turn 27 until February next year, such a high load will sooner or later be too much for this super unicorn. Therefore, the Golden Nuggets are expected to play 4 games in 5 days after the 2021-22 season schedule is released. Back-to-back games were marked to allow Jokić to rest, approximately 5-10 games, and to allow Michael Porter Jr. and Jamael Murray to carry the team.
