The Fan is turning 30! For three decades, the station has been covering Denver sports, serving as a media outlet of record for the biggest events over the past 30 years.
There have been a lot of them. From championships to MVPs, from historic seasons to improbable victories, The Fan has been there for all of them.
What were the best of the best? During a six week span, Denver Sports will chronicle the moments that stood out the most. It’s a countdown from No. 30 to No. 1, in a series called “Mile High Milestones.”
Enjoy the trip down memory lane!
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Heading into the 2020-21 NBA season, Nikola Jokic was already a star. In Denver. Around the rest of the country, the Nuggets center was still relatively unknown.
Yes, he’d earned some awards and accolades. Jokic was an All-Star in both 2019 and ’20. He was first-team All-NBA in ’19 and second-team the next season. And he had even garnered some Most Valuable Player votes, finishing fourth in ’19 and ninth in ’20.
But by and large, there was a lack of appreciation for his talents. In a league built on above-the-rim highlights that were tailor-made for ESPN, Jokic’s game was too nuanced for casual observers.
Yes, he put up big numbers. He had essentially been a 20/10 player in each of the previous two seasons, averaging 20.1 and 19.9 points, while chipping in 10.8 and 9.7 rebounds per night. But he wasn’t flashy, at least not in a traditional sense.
Jokic played an unselfish brand of basketball. He looked to get his teammates involved first, putting their shots ahead of his. He averaged more than 7.0 assists in 2019 and ’20, posting 25 triple-doubles during that time.
As a result, the Nuggets center was consistently doing things that the league hadn’t seen in a long, long time. His name would get mentioned in the same sentence as legends like Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson and Magic Johnson, as he posted numbers that weren’t the norm in today’s NBA.
This made him a star in Denver. The Nuggets certainly knew his value, inking him to a max contract in July 2018 that paid him $148 million over five years. But the rest of America failed to see the greatness in the big man’s game, not appreciating all-around skills, court vision and passing touch.
That had people in the Mile High City angry. Tired of being overlooked, Nuggets Nation put forth an all-out campaign to make sure the Serbian-born sensation was rightfully recognized in the States.
In 2020-21, the attention finally came. And in large part, it was due to Jokic’s play; he was so good in leading the Nuggets to the third-overall seed in the Western Conference with a 47-25 record in the shortened post-COVID season that everyone had to take notice.
During the year, Jokic averaged 26.4 points, 10.8 rebounds and 8.7 assists per game. League-wide, those numbers placed him 12th, ninth and sixth in those categories, respectively. The center became just the third player in NBA history to average 26/10/8 for a season, joining Robertson and Russell Westbrook on that list. He also recorded 16 triple-doubles, the 18th-highest single-season total at the time, as well as the third-most ever by a center.
In a February game against the Kings, Jokic’s greatness was on full display. That night, the big man scored 50 points, dished 12 assists and grabbed eight rebounds. He became the first center to have a 50/10 game since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1975.
It was advanced stats that really showed how dominant Jokic was that season, however. He led the league in player efficiency rating (PER), value over replacement player (VORP), box plus-minus, win shares and offensive win shares.
The body of work made it impossible to not give Jokic his due. He won the league’s MVP award, becoming the lowest-drafted player (41st overall) in NBA history to earn that hardware.
The honor put him in rarified air in Colorado history. Only John Elway (1987), Larry Walker (1997), Terrell Davis (1998), Joe Sakic (2001), Peter Forsberg (2003) and Peyton Manning (2013) had ever won MVP honors in their respective pro sports leagues. Jokic became the first Nugget to ever win the award.
The 2020-21 season proved that greatness comes in a lot of different packages. In the NBA, it’s not just about leading the league in scoring and posterizing opponents with dunks. Truly being able to play the game of basketball, in a way that the league hadn’t seen in decades, was once again on display.
Nikola Jokic became the greatest Nugget of all-time that season. And he changed his sport in the process.
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THE COUNTDOWN
30: Ubaldo Jimenez has a magical season
29: Todd Helton get enshrined in Cooperstown
28: Valeri Nichushkin goes missing in the postseason – twice!
27: The Avalanche win their second Stanley Cup
26: The Nuggets come back from two 3-1 deficits in the bubble
25: The seemingly never-ending Broncos ownership saga
24: Hurricane Josh hits the Mile High City
23: The Rockies trade Nolan Arenado to the Cardinals
22: The Nuggets reach the Western Conference Finals in 2009
21: John Elway gets enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame
20: The Avalanche hoist third Stanley Cup in franchise history
19: The Avalanche acquire Patrick Roy from the Canadiens
18: The Broncos produce the greatest offensive season in NFL history
17: John Elway joins the Broncos front office to right the ship
16: The Avalanche win the Stanley Cup in 1996
15: The Broncos nearly decade-long quarterback carousel
14: The Avs-Red Wings rivalry turns into a bloodbath
13: The Broncos win back-to-back titles during historic season
12: The Broncos suffer one of the worst losses in franchise history
11: The Broncos part ways with head coach Mike Shanahan
10: The Nuggets trade away Carmelo Anthony in a blockbuster deal
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Wanna hear more about this Mile High Milestone? Tune into “The Rundown” at noon or check out the show on YouTube to hear Richie Carni and a special guest take a walk down memory lane.
