Nuggets' Nikola Jokić on Pre-Draft Doubters: 'Don't Bet Against the Fat Boy'
Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokić offered some sage advice after his team won the 2023 NBA Finals.
The two-time MVP told ESPN's Malika Andrews the teams who overlooked him on draft night "didn't believe in the fat boy."
"Don't bet against the fat boy," he said.
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As fans are well aware by now, ESPN was airing a commercial for Taco Bell during the 2014 NBA draft broadcast when the Nuggets officially selected Jokić with the 41st overall pick.
Nobody was expecting the Serbian big man to be the most consequential member of the 2014 draft class. That includes the Nuggets themselves, since they took Doug McDermott in the first round and traded him to the Chicago Bulls in a deal that netted a different European center (Jusuf Nurkic).
It's possible Jokić's rise affects how teams evaluate prospects ahead of the draft. A player who lacks certain physical tools might not be so easily dismissed.
It's just as likely the 28-year-old is a generational talent whose success can't be paralleled.
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