Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic broke Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s record for most career assists by an NBA center during Thursday’s 126-115 win over the Orlando Magic.
Jokic entered last night’s game with six assists behind Abdul-Jabbar, who had 5,660. The Denver Nuggets center had 23 points, 11 rebounds, and 13 assists on 10-for-17 shooting from the field across 38 minutes of action. Jokic passed the Los Angeles Lakers icon with his dime on Jalen Pickett’s three-pointer with 6:26 left in the second period.
“For those of us that love the history of the game, that one should be wrote about and talked about, and that should be a national story,” Nuggets coach David Adelman said via Bennett Durando of The Denver Post.
“Because that’s passing a guy that you could argue — if you just want to go by generations and not, ‘Who’s the best player of all time?’ and all the talk-talk stuff — Kareem is in the conversation. Look at his MVPs. Look at the winning. And our guy tonight from Denver just passed him in a category,” he added.
Denver Nuggets News: Jamal Murray reflects on Nikola Jokic’s latest milestone
Jamal Murray said he isn’t surprised by Nikola Jokic surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for all-time assists by a center. After the game, the Denver Nuggets star reflected on being teammates with Jokic for the past nine years.
“This is a time that I can be able to look back and appreciate all the years I’ve had to play this game with him,” Murray said. “It’s special. Passing Kareem in anything is pretty cool. So I think it just speaks to his greatness and how unselfish he is.”
“I always say the assist makes two people happy (instead of one). My coach ‘Deki,’ he always said that,” Jokic said Thursday, paying homage to the late Golden State Warriors assistant Dejan Milojevic.
