34-year-old center veteran Jordan sees MVP Jokic as the future leader of the Nuggets

2022-08-07 13:52

34-year-old center veteran Jordan sees MVP Jokic as the future leader of the Nuggets


After the Denver Nuggets chose to sign 34-year-old center veteran DeAndre Jordan as a backup center for MVP Nikola Jokic in the offseason last week, Jordan revealed himself and the Nuggets in an interview recently. Early conversations with head coach Michael Malone, 2 of whom have high hopes for Jokic when they talk about him and think the first player in league history to debut with the lowest overall pick and win MVP of the year will be the Nuggets' MVP The key to winning the championship.


The 27-year-old Jokic was selected by the Nuggets with the 41st overall pick in the 2014 draft. He has played for the Nuggets for 7 years and has made great contributions to the Nuggets. Under the leadership of Jokic, the Nuggets have The team reached the Western Conference finals in 2020 and advanced to the semifinals in 2019 and 2021.


Jokic appeared in 74 regular-season games for the Nuggets last season, averaging 27.1 points, 13.8 rebounds, 7.9 assists, 1.5 steals and 0.9 blocks in 33.5 minutes while shooting 58.3 percent overall. Jokic averaged 31.3 points, 11.8 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 1.3 steals and 0.8 blocks per game in the seven-game series against the Golden State Warriors in the first round of the playoffs. Although the Nuggets missed last season due to injuries to two key players, the Nuggets were eventually eliminated by the Warriors in the Western Conference semifinals in Game 5 of the series.


However, Jokic's performance level is increasing day by day, and he has won 2 MVP awards, 4 All-Stars, 3 league first team and second team of the year. The Nuggets are the first to offer this general a five-year maximum salary extension contract worth about $254 million in league history, which shows that Jokic is an indispensable core player for the Nuggets.


As Jokic's backup center next season, Jordan is an experienced veteran in the league. He spent 14 seasons in the league and played in more than 1,000 games in total. He played for the Los Angeles Clippers, Dallas Mavericks, The New York Knicks, Brooklyn Nets, Los Angeles Lakers and Philadelphia 76ers, but he never won a championship, and that's what drives Jordan to give it his all next season.


Jordan said that he will do his best to serve as a backup center and improve the defense, speed and opportunities to create open offensives in the rotation. The season put into offensive rebounding and defensive advantages, and under the leadership of the Nuggets leader Jokic entered the playoffs and competed for the league championship.