Jokic’s unique season

Nikola Jokic finished the 2025-26 regular season as the National Basketball Association’s leader in both rebounds and assists, a combination no player had pulled off before. (nba.com) The Denver Nuggets center averaged 12.9 rebounds and 10.9 assists in 63 games, while scoring 28.0 points per game, according to Basketball-Reference and ESPN’s season stat pages. (basketball-reference.com) (espn.com) Basketball-Reference’s 2025-26 league leaders page lists Jokic first in rebounds per game and first in assists per game, and ESPN’s leaders page shows the same standings. (basketball-reference.com) (espn.com) The feat stands out because assists leaders are usually guards and rebound leaders are usually centers. Jokic is a center who runs Denver’s offense as its primary passer and still finishes possessions on the glass. (nba.com) (basketball-reference.com) He did it while Denver finished 53-28 and third in the Western Conference, putting a team result next to the individual line. Basketball-Reference’s standings page lists the Nuggets behind Oklahoma City and San Antonio in the West. (basketball-reference.com 1) (basketball-reference.com 2) Jokic was already one of the league’s most unusual stars before this season. Basketball-Reference lists him as a three-time Most Valuable Player, an eight-time All-Star and the 2023 National Basketball Association Finals Most Valuable Player. (basketball-reference.com) His 2025-26 line also kept up a broader trend in Denver’s offense: the ball keeps flowing through him on nearly every trip. The Nuggets averaged 122.0 points per game, second only to Oklahoma City’s 119.2 among the Western Conference leaders shown on Basketball-Reference’s standings page. (basketball-reference.com) The season closes with Jokic owning a stat profile that usually belongs to two different players. One player led the league in passing, the same player led it in rebounding, and Denver heads into the playoffs with that formula intact. (nba.com) (basketball-reference.com)