Nikola Jokic Told to Face LeBron James Treatment After Nuggets' Playoff Loss
The Denver Nuggets were eliminated from the first round of the NBA playoffs in a 110–98 Game 6 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday.
Getting bounced in the first round is one thing, but it’s the way Denver lost that’s most concerning.
The Timberwolves pulled off the win without starters Anthony Edwards and Donte DiVincenzo, as well as backup guard Ayo Dosunmu, who had just dropped 43 points in Game 5.
The Nuggets, meanwhile, were without Aaron Gordon and Peyton Watson, but still had their franchise cornerstones in Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray.
Which evidently, still wasn’t enough.
Jokic finished with 28 points, 10 assists, and nine rebounds, flirting with a triple-double, but Denver never controlled the game when it mattered.
Afterward, Jokic didn't sugarcoat it. He admitted Minnesota was "better in basically every aspect" and suggested bluntly that change is needed, even going as far as to say that, “if we were in Serbia, we would all be fired.”
Now, Dan Patrick has chimed in, arguing Jokic should be judged by the same standard critics once applied to LeBron James before his championship breakthrough.
“If this was LeBron, three-time MVP, winner of one NBA title, bowing out the way Joker did, we’d be crushing LeBron,” Patrick said.
“If we’re going to look at him as one of the top 10 players of all time, then we have to treat him the way we did other players. And that is, are you producing? Are you winning? They didn’t have their starting guards, and you’re losing. No excuse,” he added.
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Jokic owns three MVP awards, a 2023 NBA title, and already ranks second all-time in career triple-doubles at 198, just 11 behind the all-time leader, Russell Westbrook, all at just 31 years old.
However, that 2023 championship run remains the peak and Denver's lone Finals appearance in the Jokic era.
Since then, the team has fallen flat. No return to the Finals, and now, a first-round exit against a compromised opponent.
Early in his career, LeBron James was relentlessly criticized for not winning championships despite elite individual dominance. Every playoff loss was treated like evidence against his greatness.
That pressure eventually reshaped his career decisions, from Miami to Cleveland to Los Angeles.
Jokic has largely avoided that level of scrutiny, until now.
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The players constantly in the "G.O.A.T." conversation are names like Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, LeBron James, and Kobe Bryant, all greats defined by MVPs paired with multiple championships and sustained postseason dominance.
One title doesn't disqualify Jokic from that list, but it puts him in a fragile spot where every playoff loss from here on carries immense weight.
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This story was originally published May 1, 2026 at 11:41 AM.