The Denver Nuggets are surging at exactly the right time. As the regular season approaches its dramatic conclusion, the defending heavyweights are reminding the entire basketball world exactly who they are and what they are capable of achieving. Fresh off a commanding 130 to 117 victory over the Utah Jazz, the Nuggets have positioned themselves brilliantly in the treacherous Western Conference. They are now sitting one full game ahead of Houston for the coveted fourth seed and are a comfortable one and a half games up on Minnesota. Riding a massive wave of momentum, Denver has won seven consecutive games and boasts a spectacular 10-2 record over their last twelve matchups.

But beneath the surface of these standard team achievements lies a storyline of historic, mind-bending proportions. We are currently witnessing an individual performance so profoundly brilliant that it completely defies historical comparison. At the very center of Denver’s blazing hot streak is Nikola Jokic. Over roughly a three-week span, Jokic has been averaging an almost incomprehensible 23 points, 15 rebounds, and 13 assists per game. During this specific window, he is shooting a staggering 60 percent in effective field goals and logging an average plus-minus of +9.3.

To put an exclamation mark on this remarkable run, Jokic put up 15 points, 17 rebounds, and 12 assists in the recent victory over the Jazz. With that performance, history was clinched. For the second consecutive season, Nikola Jokic will average a triple-double. His seasonal averages currently sit at a preposterous 28 points, 13 rebounds, and 11 assists per game. This marks only the seventh time in the entirety of NBA history that a single player has averaged a triple-double over the course of a full season.

We all know the legends who previously achieved this monumental feat. Oscar Robertson famously broke the mold during the 1961-1962 NBA season. Decades later, Russell Westbrook astonishingly normalized the unimaginable by accomplishing the feat four times within a five-year span from 2016 to 2021. However, with all due respect to those undeniable Hall of Famers, neither of their triple-double seasons looked anything like the masterpiece Jokic is currently painting.

For starters, Nikola Jokic is on track to lead the entire league in both rebounds and assists this season. Take a moment to let that sink in. He will become the first player in the history of the NBA to ever accomplish that specific dual-category dominance. But the true magic of Jokic’s season lies in his groundbreaking efficiency. This year, his true shooting percentage sits at a mind-blowing 67.3 percent. For context, Oscar Robertson shot 55.4 percent during his historic 1962 campaign. Unbelievably, Russell Westbrook’s highest true shooting percentage during his four triple-double seasons was an identical 55.4 percent. Jokic is operating a full twelve percentage points higher than two of the greatest to ever step onto a hardwood floor.

Then there is the issue of usage rate. While usage percentage was not officially tracked during Oscar Robertson’s era, it certainly was during the Russell Westbrook run. During the first year Westbrook averaged a triple-double, he led the entire NBA in usage and set the all-time single-season record. The following year, he finished runner-up in usage only to James Harden, who set the second-highest usage mark in league history.

Fast forward to the present day. If you look at the top five highest-used players in the NBA right now, the names are exactly who you would expect: Luka Doncic leads the pack, followed by Jaylen Brown at number two, Kawhi Leonard at three, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander at four, and Victor Wembanyama rounding out the top five. Not surprisingly, four of those five superstars are receiving massive consideration for the league MVP award, while Kawhi Leonard is firmly in the All-NBA First Team conversation.

So, where does Nikola Jokic rank in usage while putting up the most efficient triple-double season in the history of the sport? He sits at 12th in the NBA. He is actually ranked one spot below his own teammate, Michael Porter Jr. Despite having the ball in his hands significantly less than the other primary MVP candidates, Jokic is producing exponentially better numbers. When you factor in his absurd shooting percentages, historic rebounding, unparalleled playmaking, and relatively low usage rate, this is—without question—the cleanest and greatest triple-double season ever produced.

The season is so mathematically perfect that Jokic is currently set to break his own all-time NBA record in a vital advanced metric: Box Plus-Minus (BPM). For those unfamiliar, NBA Box Plus-Minus is a box-score-derived metric that estimates a player’s contribution to their team per 100 possessions relative to a league-average player (which is set at 0.0). It measures points above and below average, factoring in stats, position, and team performance. A minus 2.0 represents a baseline replacement-level player.

When you look at the top 10 single-season BPM ratings in NBA history, you are looking at the absolute pinnacle of basketball royalty. Checking in at number ten is Steph Curry’s unanimous MVP season in 2015-2016, where he captured all 131 first-place votes. Number nine belongs to Michael Jordan’s 1990-1991 MVP season. Number seven is Michael Jordan’s legendary 1987-1988 season—a year he won MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, and the scoring title. Number four is LeBron James’ incredible 2008-2009 MVP campaign.

The rest of the list? Nikola Jokic owns the number two, three, five, six, and eight spots on the all-time leaderboard. In five of those historic seasons, he walked away with three MVP trophies. But here we sit in the 2025-2026 season, and Jokic is embarking on the number one highest-rated BPM season ever recorded, boasting an astronomical rating of 14.0.

To truly understand how absurd a 14.0 BPM is, you just have to look at the current MVP frontrunner, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. SGA is having a phenomenal year and sits at 11th on the all-time BPM list, just below Steph Curry’s unanimous season. However, SGA is a full 2.2 points behind Jokic’s current pace. That 2.2-point differential is massive. In fact, it is the exact same gap that exists between SGA at number 11 and Kevin Garnett’s 2005 season all the way down at number 43 on the all-time list. Jokic is quite literally breaking the math.

Yet, despite this undeniable statistical supremacy, Nikola Jokic is not only projected to lose the MVP award to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, but he is realistically in danger of not even finishing in the top three. The current media narrative suggests SGA will win, Luka Doncic will finish as the runner-up, and an immense promotional push for Victor Wembanyama could easily slide the young phenom into third place.

With five games left to play, Jokic has carried an injury-plagued Denver Nuggets roster to 49 wins, sitting on the doorstep of another 50-win season. He is about to become the first player ever to lead the league in assists and rebounds. He is averaging the greatest triple-double the world has ever seen. He is destroying the all-time record for Box Plus-Minus. And his reward will likely be a fourth-place finish in the MVP race.

If this happens, it will be, by far, the most outrageous MVP finish in NBA history. It would easily eclipse the legendary snub of 1962, where Wilt Chamberlain averaged 50 points per game and lost, as well as the 2005-2006 season where Kobe Bryant averaged 35 points per game and somehow finished fourth. The current treatment of Jokic borders on sheer hostility from the voters. It feels eerily similar to a deliberate collusion aimed at minimizing his greatness simply because of voter fatigue or a desire for a new narrative.

Ultimately, the MVP award has clearly devolved into a politicized popularity contest. But no meaningless trophy or media bias can ever take away from the concrete facts. We are currently witnessing—in real time—what is arguably the single greatest individual season in the history of the National Basketball Association. The numbers are immortal, even if the voters choose to look the other way.