Nikola Jokic made history when he became the lowest draft pick to ever win the NBA MVP award. History on top of history was made last week when Jokic was crowned MVP for the third time, becoming only the ninth player in league history to do so.
Consider: more than 60% of all MVP winners were among the top five picks in the NBA draft. None were ever drafted later than #15. Jokic, however, was picked in the second round, at #41.
This is a basketball rags-to-riches tale. But despite being the best player in the NBA, it is Jokic’s exemplary character that distinguishes him most. Here are six character traits we can learn from Jokic.
- Humility
In a sports world consumed by ego, Jokic’s humility is legendary. Other MVP candidates don’t hesitate to tout their case. Jokic, by contrast, is visibly uncomfortable discussing it. After his second MVP, he preemptively flew to his home in Serbia, pulling off the most low-key award ceremony imaginable. The video of Jokic making Nuggets owner Josh Kroenke wait while Jokic, crying, brought his horse into the stable, is unreal. Fact is, in fact, stranger than fiction. Jokic exemplifies the Talmudic statement, “One who flees from honor, honor will catch up to him” (Eruvin 13b).
Asked what being MVP means to him, his response was, “It doesn’t affect me much, to be honest.” These are rare words from an MVP winner. Remember, we are not talking about a rabbinical conference where it is admirable—if not expected—to downplay one’s talents. This is a sports league where attention is craved and ego reigns.
- Selflessness
Every star says they would rather win the championship than an individual MVP award, but ideally, they want both. Not Jokic. He emphasized how he “liked last year much better when I didn’t win it.” Jokic’s selflessness is encapsulated by one statistic: 9.8/9.0 assists per game the past two seasons, the two highest averages for an NBA center in history. Watching his passing highlights is a jaw-dropping exercise. He actively looks for any opportunity, however outlandish it might seem, to give his teammates a great shot.
In his coach’s words, “He gets greater enjoyment from making everyone around him better. He’s not about the spotlight, no ego.” Incredibly, he once asked his coach to come off the bench instead of starting.
In the bigger picture, since LeBron James formed a “superteam”—in the decidedly unhumble fashion of building up drama and labeling it “The Decision”—it became normal for superstars to demand trades or otherwise collude to end up on big-market teams together. Jokic? He said, “My personal opinion is I’d rather win a championship with the team that drafted me than with anyone else (which he later did, in 2023). I’d like to stay here forever.”
- Healthy Humor
There’s a good reason his nickname is “Joker.” A few years back, his coach described him as, “just a big, goofy kid.” Watch his post-game press conferences, and he’s constantly cracking jokes, many of the self-deprecating variety. Humor is a finicky thing. Judaism frowns upon levity or cynicism, but Jokic uses humor positively, to poke fun at insanity and restore equilibrium. Basketball is his priority, but he makes light of it because it’s not “his everything”.
Watching him speak, you’d never know how competitive he is. He’s equally liable to make a “goofy” comment after a loss or a win. Failures don’t define him. Rather than beat himself up, failure motivates him to channel his talents towards success the next time. “Seven times a righteous one may fall, but he picks himself up (Proverbs 24:16).” In our personal endeavors as well, let’s adopt Jokic’s easygoing approach to failure.
- Discipline
The Nuggets’ strength coach said, “If Jokic tells you ‘I’m gonna do something’ with that determined look, he will.” Jokic religiously follows the coach’s diet recommendations as if he were God commanding kosher laws. Even when the team indulges in Southern-fried food after a win in Memphis, Jokic sticks with his regular postgame meal: chicken and rice. Jokic had an insane Coca-Cola habit—a gallon per day!—but once he resolved to stop, he stopped. He hasn’t touched soda in eight years. Despite being the league’s best player, with no need to prove himself anymore, he’s consistently the first one into the gym and the last one out.
- Presence
Asked about being an emerging MVP candidate, he demurred. “I never think about that,” he said. “I’m just thinking about the next game…that’s what the mentality needs to be. When you think in the future, you put a lot of pressure on yourself.”
Unknowingly, he echoed the Elder of Novorodock, 19th-century mussar giant: “Man must be able to sacrifice all of his tomorrows for today, so that he need not sacrifice all of his todays for one tomorrow.” Worrying about what the future will bring can paralyze us from achieving something today.
- Family
Asked how much winning multiple MVPs means to him, Jokic answered, “My baby daughter showed me basketball isn’t the most important thing.” I’d say Jokic had this attitude long before his daughter was born. Asked how he celebrated after winning a prestigious award in 2021, he quipped, “I stayed at home with my wife.” An awkward silence followed, with the reporter waiting for the real answer until Jokic affirmed, “No really, that’s what I did.”
Last season, playing at an elite level despite the fatigue that parenting an infant often brings, Jokic was asked if his energy would dip. His answer? The exact opposite! “Right now, my little daughter and my family…give me lots of energy. There’s just happiness when I go home. Natalija (his wife) is our MVP. I’m so happy to see her face when the baby sees Natalija. It’s amazing. I love it.”
Work-life balance? Let’s take a tip from Jokic and tip the scales toward life. Even for rabbinic personalities involved in the noble world of Torah, I’m skeptical that any of us are as committed to Torah learning as Jokic is to basketball, yet this MVP puts his family and values ahead of the accolades achieved through professional acclaim. Or, as Josh Kroenke learned while waiting outside Jokic’s livestock stables, always put the horse before the cart.
Chaim Goldberg has semicha from RIETS and is completing a graduate degree in child clinical psychology at Hebrew University. Living in Jerusalem, Israel, he has written for Jewish Action, aish.com, Jewish Press, YU Torah-to-Go and Intermountain Jewish News.
