Yahoo Sports AM: Should Jokić demand a trade? He has every right to want out of Denver

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🏀 Should Jokić demand a trade?

Nikola Jokić is not the type of player, or person, who’s likely to demand a trade. But a decade into his career, is it time?

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Mile High mess: The Nuggets’ decision to fire both their head coach and GM on the eve of the postseason, which Jokić called a “heavy day for everybody,” was shocking. It was also indicative of a franchise that hasn’t done nearly enough to surround its future Hall of Famer with a solid foundation and a worthy supporting cast.

From Yahoo Sports’ Tom Haberstroh:

Cleaning house in April, days before the playoffs? In a league of chaos, this is beyond the pale.

Imagine if this happened on a team with LeBron James. Or Stephen Curry. Or Kevin Durant. With any other all-time great, we’d be asking the question: How in the world can he be OK with all this?

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But with Jokić — who has famously shied away from publicly or privately throwing around his enormous political weight — we skip over that part of the news cycle. We assume that he’ll be fine with it all.

Frankly, it’s an insult to Jokić, who has been cheated out of multiple championship runs by the Nuggets. By his own admission, he’s at the peak of his powers, averaging 29.8 points, 12.8 rebounds, 10.2 assists this season. Three-time MVP, first-time triple-double average.

The 10-year vet has been a contender with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the MVP race this season, but his best argument for the hardware is buttressed by how terrible his supporting cast is.

When SGA has been off the floor, the Thunder have outscored opponents by 75 points across 1,199 minutes. When Jokić has been off the floor? The Nuggets have *lost* by a whopping 252 points in 1,366 minutes.

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When it comes to quantifying his supporting cast, that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

One-man show: This will sound made up but I promise it’s not: Jokić has never played alongside a single teammate who was named an All-Star, All-NBA or All-Defensive player that season. That’s not just unfathomable; it’s unprecedented.

• He’s the only one of the last 24 MVPs, dating back to Moses Malone in 1983, who’s never had an All-League teammate through their first 10 years in the NBA.

• The other 23 MVPs in that time averaged 16 such teammates, led by Magic Johnson with 35. Just five of them even had fewer than 10; Jokić has had zero.

The KG comp: Kevin Garnett is the only player in the chart above in the same vicinity as Jokić, having had just four All-League teammates during his first 10 seasons in Minnesota. After his 12th, Garnett demanded a trade to Boston, where he immediately won a ring alongside Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo — talent commensurate with his.

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• Jokić, of course, already has a ring, and perhaps Denver’s 2023 championship provided the Nuggets with some credibility that their strategy works.

• But in reality, they won despite Jokić’s supporting cast, not because of it, lest we forget that he became the first player in NBA history to lead all postseason players in points, rebounds and assists.

Looking ahead: The regular season ends on Sunday and Denver, sitting in fourth place, may yet have another deep playoff run in them. Whether it’s Jokić’s last in a Nuggets uniform is up to him.

Read Tom’s full story: Nikola Jokić has every right to demand a trade

⛳️ In photos: Round 1 at Augusta

Clubhouse leader: Justin Rose (-7) opened with three straight birdies and ended with a three-stroke lead. This is the ninth time he’s led or co-led after a round at Augusta — the most among players without a green jacket.

McIlroy falls apart: A pair of double bogeys on 15 and 17 sabotaged Rory McIlroy’s round. “At this point, we have no one but ourselves to blame when he rolls our hopes into Rae’s Creek,” writes Yahoo Sports’ Jay Busbee.

Still got it: Fred Couples (-1) broke par in his Masters debut in 1983. 42 years later, he did it again, carding a 71 and hitting the shot of the day (hole-out eagle!) to finish T11.

Tough day at the office: Nick Dunlap (+18) had one of the worst rounds in Masters history, finishing 11 strokes behind second-to-last place. Somehow, despite taking 90 shots, he didn’t have a single three-putt.

“The Kid” snapping pics: Baseball Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. has been a credentialed photographer at a number of sporting events. We can now add the Masters to the list.

🏈 NFL Draft: Big Board

The 2025 NFL Draft is two weeks away. To set the stage, we’ve got the first consensus big board (top 50 players) from Yahoo Sports’ Nate Tice and Charles McDonald.

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Top 10:

1. Travis Hunter, CB/WR (Colorado)

2. Abdul Carter, Edge (Penn State)

3. Will Johnson, CB (Michigan)

4. Ashton Jeanty, RB (Boise State)

5. Will Campbell, OT/OG (LSU)

6. Tetairoa McMillan, WR (Arizona)

7. Armand Membou, OT (Missouri)

8. Mason Graham, DT (Michigan)

9. Jalon Walker, Edge/LB (Georgia)

10. Cam Ward, QB (Miami)

Big board: Top 50 players

🏀 WNBA mock draft: Three days out

With the WNBA draft coming on Monday, we’ve got a fresh mock for you, courtesy of Yahoo Sports’ Maggie Hendricks.

First round:

1. Wings: Paige Bueckers, G (UConn)

2. Storm: Dominique Malonga, F (France)

3. Mystics: Kiki Iriafen, F (USC)

4. Mystics: Sonia Citron, G (Notre Dame)

5. Valkyries: Aneesah Morrow, F (LSU)

6. Mystics: Te-Hina Paopao, G (South Carolina)

7. Sun: Shyanne Sellers, G (Maryland)

8. Sun: Saniya Rivers, G (NC State)

9. Sparks: Georgia Amoore, G (Kentucky)

10. Sky: Hailey Van Lith, G (TCU)

11. Lynx: Justė Jocytė, G (Lithuania)

12. Wings: Sedona Prince, C (TCU)

Note: There are only 12 picks in the first round because the Aces lost theirs due to rules violations. The second and third rounds have a full complement of 13 picks.

📺 Watchlist: Regular-season finale

The NBA regular season comes to a close this weekend, with all 30 teams playing both tonight and Sunday, sandwiched around a league-wide day off on Saturday.

Where it stands: The Eastern Conference field is set (minus some seeding), but the West remains a logjam with the fourth- through eighth-place teams all separated by one game and still alive for a top-six seed and a guaranteed playoff spot.

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More to watch:

• ⛳️ PGA: The Masters (Fri-Sun, ESPN/Masters App) … Tee times.

• 🏒 Frozen Four: WMU vs. BU (Sat. 7:30pm, ESPN2) … National championship.

• 🏒 NHL: Capitals at Blue Jackets (Sat. 12:30pm, ABC); Rangers at Hurricanes (Sat. 3pm, ABC); Islanders at Devils (Sun. 1pm, TNT); Bruins at Penguins (Sun. 3:30pm, TNT); Avalanche at Ducks (Sun. 10pm, TNT)

• ⚾️ MLB: Pirates at Reds (Fri. 6:40pm, Apple); Tigers at Twins (Fri. 8:10pm, Apple); Giants at Yankees (Sat. 3pm, FS1); Cubs at Dodgers (Sun. 7pm, ESPN)

• 🏒 Women’s Hockey Worlds: USA vs. Canada (Sun. 1pm, NHL) … Group stage.

Plus… UFL Week 3 (Fri-Sat, Fox/ABC/ESPN); F1: Bahrain (Sun. 11am, ESPN2); NASCAR: Bristol (Sun. 3pm, FS1); IndyCar: Long Beach (Sun. 4:30, Fox); Monte Carlo Masters (Fri-Sun, Tennis)

🏀 NBA trivia

Stephon Castle looks like a near lock to win Rookie of the Year, which would give the Spurs back-to-back winners (Victor Wembanyama).

Question: Who was the last team with back-to-back ROY winners?

Hint: No. 1 picks in 2015 and 2016.

Answer at the bottom.

⚾️ Statistical oddity: AVG > OBP

Brewers youngster Jackson Chourio is off to a hot start, batting .310 through his first 13 games. But thanks to a small-sample statistical oddity, his on-base percentage is actually just .305 — yes, lower than his batting average.

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How is that possible? Chourio hasn’t been walked or hit by a pitch yet, but he does have one sacrifice fly, which counts against your OBP but not your average. Until he reaches base via walk or hit by pitch, the statistical anomaly will remain. Unless, of course, he also keeps hitting sac flies.

How long could this last? Probably not very. The most at-bats anyone has ever had in a full season while maintaining a higher AVG than OBP is 125, when Giants infielder Ernie Bowman hit .184 with a .181 OBP in 1963 thanks to two sac flies and no walks or HBPs.

Trivia answer: Timberwolves (Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns)

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