Nikola Jokic knew about the Nuggets’ spring cleaning decision before the rest of the team

For Nikola Jokic, Wednesday’s game against the Sacramento Kings was business as usual as he put up his 33rd triple-double of the season en route to a 124-116 victory over the Sacramento Kings. In the first game without Michael Malone calling the shots on the sidelines, Denver looked like a team that found a second wind and a new competitive spirit.

Jokic was asked various questions regarding Malone after the win, but chose to not answer many of them. He talked about how he had a 10-year relationship with Malone, showing that the move might’ve hit a little differently for him just due to the connection he had built with his head coach. Jokic also had a conversation with Josh Kroenke, the president of the Nuggets, when Kroenke had come to the decision that Malone’s time in Denver was up.

“I knew a little bit before everybody. And (Kroenke) told me, ‘We made a decision.’ So it was not a discussion. It was a decision, and he told me why. So I listened and I accept it,” Jokic said after the victory Wednesday.

There were rumors circling around the NBA world that the firing of Malone wouldn’t have happened without Jokic’s approval. Jokic confirmed Wednesday that it’s all a part of the business, and it’s his job to move forward with whoever he has next to him on the sideline and in the organization.

It’s common for star players to have an input on whether or not a coach should get fired if a team is underperformed. It was rumored that disgruntlement among players was one of the reason why the Brooklyn Nets fired Kenny Atkinson late in the season in 2020, which was one of the latest coaching changes by a contending team in NBA history.

Jokic isn’t like most star players. He’s a leader on the sideline, he’s a star on the court, but he doesn’t provide much input off the court regarding decisions with coaches and front office members. He’s never complained about not having a single teammate that made an All-NBA, All-Defense, or even an All-Star team when rostered with the Joker (DeAndre Jordan’s First-Team All-NBA nomination in 2016 doesn’t count because he wasn’t Jokic’s teammate at the time).

Cue the joke, all he cares about is his horses. In reality, he cares about winning as well, and it doesn’t matter who his coach is, who his general manager is or who his teammates are. He’s got two more games to win in the regular season before gearing up for another playoff run, and he’s not letting the changes affect his play.