Nikola Jokic Reportedly 'Finally Comfortable' as Nuggets' Leader After HC Firing

ESPN's Shams Charania believes Nikola Jokić has become more "comfortable" with his leadership role on the Denver Nuggets since the front office turnover at the end of the 2024-25 regular season.

The Nuggets, who lead the Los Angeles Clippers 3-2 in the first round of the 2025 NBA playoffs, parted ways with head coach Michael Malone and general manager Calvin Booth in April.

"Even before then, he was a little bit vocal, but he's been unleashed," Charania said in Thursday appearance on the Pat McAfee Show. "When I talk to people on Denver, they say Nikola Jokić is finally comfortable with the power, with the influence, with who he is as a player."

Jokić and the Nuggets could advance to the second round with a Game 6 win on Thursday night in Los Angeles.

"Before, I think, we hadn't seen him as maybe demonstrative, or as vocal," Charania said. "But right now, he's showing it. And I don't it's the power that he feels he can yield. It's not like, 'Oh, I'm going to fire this coach, I'm going to trade this player.' It's like, 'How can I influence my teammates?'

"This is the first time, I think, we've seen in Nikola Jokić's career, where he is going about every night, and he's trying to influence how his teammates are behaving, how they're playing."

ESPN's Tim MacMahon and Ramona Shelburne previously reported shortly after Malone's dismissal that interim head coach David Adelman was encouraging players "to speak up in huddles and on the court," and that Jokić had been "engaged and drawing up plays" in huddles early in Adelman's tenure.

One of the younger Nuggets players on whom Jokić has had the most visible influence is arguably Christian Braun, who has benefitted from playing alongside Jokić during his breakout 15.4 point-per-game campaign in 2024-25.

Braun has credited Jokić with helping him improve on both offense and defense during his third NBA season.

“It’s all credit to Nikola,” Braun told The Athletic's Fred Katz in April. “He’ll grab you during the game, and he’ll tell you, ‘I want you here because they’re gonna do this.’ He’ll know three steps ahead. The credit doesn’t go to me.”

Also in April, Braun told The Ringer's Michael Pina: “Sometimes he’ll put you in your spot. He’ll grab your body, move you into your spot. He’s moved me a couple times.”

That influence, as well as Jokić becoming the third player in NBA history to average a season-long triple-double, has helped the Nuggets come within one win of a spot in the second round.

The Nuggets and Clippers tip off Thursday night at 10 p.m. ET.