The NBA just had its most competitive All-Star Game in years.
Victor Wembanyama was the spark. Anthony Edwards took that motivation and ran with it. But as most of the NBA's best players increased their effort in the exhibition, Nikola Jokić was nowhere to be found. The Denver Nuggets star played the first few minutes of Game 1 of the round-robin tournament. Then, later, he was seen palling around on the bench with his fellow careless buddy, Luka Dončić, for the rest of the affair.
The optics are undeniable. While almost everyone else of Jokić's stature did more than screw around on Sunday, the three-time league MVP in his prime was content to be a bystander. Woof. Given his global profile as one of the most famous athletes on this floating rock in space, it remains disappointing that Jokić feels no duty to the All-Star Game.
I wish it were different. I wish he were different. I really do.
By that same token, it's baffling to assert that Jokić should ever change his mind about it. It's ludicrous to say he's under some sort of uniquely deserved microscope for any of this mess. In all honesty, I feel like I'm taking crazy pills reading how people are discussing his lack of earnest effort in the NBA's ultra-corporatized, midseason event.
First of all, it's rich to claim that Jokić never, ever receives criticism. Surely, we aren't talking about the same hyper-efficient triple-double machine that some people still downplay in an NBA era defined by high-level offensive basketball, because he barely jumps off the ground on the court and isn't Dikembe Mutombo as a rim protector? I must have missed the time he wasn't lambasted and put on a pedestal without getting heat.
Please enlighten me when that happened. I'm all ears.
It's rich to denigrate Jokić over his approach to this specific All-Star Game. Dearest readers, he quite literally bruised a bone in his knee about a month and a half ago as a 300-pound human being. He was clearly not himself during the two weeks of basketball he played before the break. I'd venture to guess he's still recovering from that injury. His health was honestly probably closer to the status of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Giannis Antetokounmpo, both of whom sat out the All-Star Game with respective soft-tissue injuries. Considering the circumstances, it's a wonder Jokić participated at all. I can't control the whims of the greater hoops world, but perhaps we should've singled him out for his All-Star nonsense when he was actually healthy.
Just a thought.
Most of all, it's rich to try to make Jokić the new poster boy for a lack of All-Star effort. He's only been a perennial All-Star since 2019. He's only taken the cues of other older NBA stars over the years. You can blame Steph Curry, LeBron James, and yes, even legendary hater Kevin Durant for setting the lackadaisical All-Star example, as much as he wants to deflect now. At this stage, at age 31, Jokić is not going to change. He's a symptom of a problem that existed long before him, not the cause.
Young guns like Edwards and Wembanyama are free to take these All-Star festivities more seriously. I'm glad they have. And to be clear, I think Jokić does owe us more; us, in this case, being non-players.
But he doesn't owe his younger peers like Edwards and Wembanyama a solitary thing. Not one.
The fact of the matter here is that Jokić does, in fact, enjoy basketball. The tired horse meme aside, it colors his entire existence. He lives and breathes this beautiful game. It is not merely a hobby or side gig for him. It is everything to him. The big man is a basketball sicko like the rest of us basketball sickos, perhaps even sicker.
But Jokić enjoys basketball with meaning and stakes. As much as we all want to see him, an all-time player with an all-time creative flair, put on a show while sharing the floor with the world's other elite NBA players, the All-Star Game doesn't have any stakes. Inherently. It never will. Not to mention that we, the fans and the media, put this onus of accountability on him. We, the fans and the media, are the ones who expect more from him when there's nothing on the line, when he just wants to hoop. We, the fans and the media, are the ones who want to attribute greater meaning to these exhibitions and public events.
Jokić never asked for this position. No matter his on-court brilliance, he has always considered himself beyond the obsessive standard of how we Americans consume and hyper-fixate on seemingly every aspect of our favorite sports. Trevor Noah once put it best. Let's not act as if Jokić has ever been mean-spirited about that distinction, either.
Stop pretending like we can change Jokić's mind about the All-Star Game. Stop holding his feet to the fire for an absurd precedent he wasn't responsible for setting. It's not a battle anyone will win. That is, if there's even a battle worth fighting.
Shootaround
- Does Anthony Edwards want a hometown Hawks trade? Why it's not that unrealistic.
- Truly, good for Michael Jordan and his NASCAR team in winning the Daytona 500.
- Man, is LeBron ever gonna retire? Here's what he said at his All-Star press conference.
- Man, it was so good to see the Obamas courtside at the All-Star Game.
This was Layup Lines, For the Win's basketball newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Nikola Jokić slammed for All-Star Game attitude, but he won't change