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Nikola Jokic has been known to be a pass-first All-Star who loves to set his teammates up. In the locker room, the Serbian center is known to be a quiet guy that just likes to get his work done.
But on rare occasions, Jokic got on his teammates' case for missing plays. This happened in the playoffs last season, according to backup center Thomas Bryant during an interview on Gilbert Arenas' podcast:
"It was one time throughout the playoffs where he actually showed emotion and we're all like, 'Oh shoot, okay, yo, keep winning this all right,'" said Bryant on Gil's Arena.
"Because I think we ran a play wrong and turned the ball like two or three times in a row, he was just like, 'I don't care about scoring just play the right f**king way.' It was the time we're all just like, 'Okay all right, it's too locked in now.'"
The two-time NBA MVP seemingly levels up his game every time the playoffs start. During the Nuggets' 2023 title run, Jokic was able to average 30.0 points, 13.5 rebounds, 9.5 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.0 blocks per game.
He also logged in 39.4 minutes per game and shot an accurate 46.1% beyond the 3-point line.
WATCH: Thomas Bryant talks about playing with Nikola Jokic at Gil's Arena at 1:13:58
Nikola Jokic prioritizes making basketball easy for his teammates
It is quite rare to find a big man who prefers to pass and create for his teammates, and that is what makes Nikola Jokic so unique.
Thomas Bryant, as a center himself, is amazed at how Jokic does it and feels that he has a natural talent in basketball:
"Crazy is, he doesn't care about scoring," said Bryant. "You can do this so passive like he wants to get people open, he wants to pass the ball so it's like easy as hell to play with him because he's just naturally- he's has a god-given talent for the game of basketball."
With all the work that he has done, Nikola Jokic is taking time off from basketball after winning the 2023 NBA championship and is not going to play for the Serbian national team at the 2023 FIBA World Cup.
