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Marcin Gortat to Dwight Howard: Nikola Jokic is an unbelievable big man and probably by the numbers, by certain things, he's probably better than you. By the respect and obviously championship and everything, he might be better than you. But I'm always saying one thing: He will not play this game if you were defending this guy (Dwight). They don't understand the defense… Jokic can do stuff offensively but defensively he’s got to stop Dwight! Dwight Howard: That would be hard. Gortat: That will be stupid hard like he will foul out in the first quarter! And people don't understand that until they’re going to play you.
Q. You said Magic was freelancing 75 percent of the time. I mean that’s… Byron Scott: He was like I said controlling everything. He controlled the game. The closest to him to me right now is the Joker (Nikola Jokic). The Joker is a guy that controls the pace, the guys that play with him understand that he is more than willing to make them better and to help them. So I think he is the closest to Magic Johnson that I've seen and I'm not going by position, just is the way his knowledge of the game and the way that he sees the game. He's probably the closest in the game today. Well, he's changing the game now. They used to say point forwards now is a point center.
From your outside medical perspective, what do you make of Jokić’s injury that entails a hyperextended left knee and a bone bruise? Collon: “That’s one of the most common injuries to have with a hyperextended knee. The most commonly cited injuries with hyperextended knees are bone bruises. They don’t give you much with their reporting on it. I’ve looked at the injury to see what’s going on and there’s always drama on how long a player is out and if they’re out longer than they thought he would be. I obviously don’t know personally and wouldn’t want to speculate.”
O’Neill: “Anytime we see someone with a hyperextended knee injury and has to immediately come out of the game, the first thought is if there is something with their ligaments. With those initial reports that they planned to reevaluate him after four weeks, it appeared he avoided a ligament injury. A bone bruise is technically a form of structural damage. But it really is damage to the bone underneath the cartilage in the knee. So that’s not really restrictive from a stability standpoint. But it is very painful. Many times, those injuries are a pain tolerance situation.”
Shah: “Given the findings with what’s described in the MRI, it’s a best-case scenario. The bone bruise will eventually heal without the need for surgery. That is major. With the way he hyperextended his knee, you’re always worried about a torn ligament or a meniscus tear. Then there’s always the possibility of needing surgery and needing to be out for the season. But with the injury that he has, there is hope that he comes back from this with the body healing on its own. It just requires time, but it’s not a season-ending injury. That is good news, given the mechanism of the injury.”
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Brandon Rahbar: Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray are good to go tonight vs OKC. Thunder missing Jalen Williams, Alex Caruso and Ajay Mitchell. Nuggets missing Aaron Gordon, Christian Braun and Cam Johnson. Neither team is close to full strength. But both teams have an MVP and 1st time All Star.
Underdog NBA: Nikola Jokic (knee) listed probable for Sunday.
Q. Could you see that Nikola Jokic might grow in being to being a multiple-time MVP? Wilson Chandler: Not multiple-time MVP, but I could tell eventually he would be our best player. You could see it, just the instincts he had. His love for the game. I know people always talk about like, ‘oh, he doesn't care about basketball,’ but that's just kind of like this thing he does, but he's super passionate about it. So, you just see just the love he had for it, just the instincts he had and just the skill level he had. You could just see it. Q. To me, that's also a little overblown. Every time somebody wants to say he doesn't really care that much about basketball, yes he does care. You can tell that though. Chandler: Definitely. I talk to him often actually. So, he always talks a lot of junk. He's a great guy. Outside of being a player, great family guy.
Nikola Jokic is ready to be a basketball player again, rather than a basketball fan (and coach). Those 16 games off with a knee injury? They weren’t as mentally refreshing as one would think. “Watching just a game, it was taking so much of my energy,” he said during his first media availability in more than a month. “I was yelling at the TV when I stayed back in Denver, and then, like, in the games (I was attending), I was so emotionally empty after the games. And then I decided the last two games, I’m just gonna try to chill and watch the game.”
MrBuckBuck: Nikola Jokic on missing games: "Watching just the game, it was taking so much of my energy like I was yelling at the TV. I was so emotionally empty after the games and then I decided like last 2 games I'm just gonna try to chill and like watch the game"
Nikola Jokic on missing games: "Watching just the game, it was taking so much of my energy like I was yelling at the TV. I was so emotionally empty after the games and then I decided like last 2 games I'm just gonna try to chill and like watch the game" pic.twitter.com/1ZQo1JU3o0
— MrBuckBuck (@MrBuckBuckNBA) January 31, 2026
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“It was a new thing for me, so I was getting nervous. Not nervous. Yeah, nervous. Because I didn’t know the steps,” he said. “I didn’t know what I was supposed to do, what I was supposed to feel. So it was a different kind of nervous. … It was a learning process for me, and I was happy the team played really good.” Jokic explained that as he reached the end of his ramp-up process, he had an option to wait a little longer and test the knee in 5-on-5 workout reps before coming back. But he felt ready. “I was not scared to use it,” he said. “I was not thinking about it while I’m running, while I’m playing, so I think that’s a good sign that I’m ready.”
Bennett Durando: Nuggets’ plan is for Nikola Jokic to start tonight despite minutes restriction. David Adelman really wanted to temper expectations for Jokic in his pregame presser.
Shams Charania: Denver's Nikola Jokic – out since Dec. 29 with a knee injury – plans to return tonight against the Los Angeles Clippers at home, sources tell ESPN. Jokic now is in position to also play in Sunday's showdown vs. Oklahoma City in Denver and be eligible for the season awards.
Q. What's the secret to dominating on the post? Shaquille O’Neal: I think it's my fault that the game is being played the way it's played now, because when I was dominating the post, they tried to bring in centers to bring me out from the post. ‘Okay, he's good offensively. Now, let's make him play defense and let’s pick and pop.’ And then we're all products of our generation. So, I grew up watching guys that dominated the post. But you look at Nikola Jokic, he watched Dirk Nowitzki and Dirk watched Kevin Garnett and they all watched Tim Duncan; a 6-11, 7-foot player that could pop out and shoot the jumper. So it's my fault that guys are playing soft, that’s what I call it. The key to dominating the post is just making your opponent quit, bringing the force like I used to, try to elbow you in your face on purpose to see if you can handle it. So now that I know I got you going like that I got the advantage.
