Nikola Jokic is headed to Chicago next weekend to compete in his second consecutive All-Star Game. The new All-Star Game format debuted last season in which their are two captains — LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo — who select the squads.
James and Antetokounmpo have been captains the past two years as both received the highest number of fan votes from their respective conferences. Last year, Team Antetokounmpo selected Jokic in the second round as the Nuggets big man was the third reserve player off the board.
This year was a little different as Jokic was the third big man off the board from the reserves as Bam Adebayo and Rudy Gobert were selected before the Nuggets big man. Adebayo and Gobert were both selected by Team Giannis, which allowed LeBron to scoop up Jokic.
It might not be a bad thing that Jokic slid in the draft as he was selected to the better team, on paper that is at least. Jokic will team up with James, Anthony Davis, Kawhi Leonard, Luka Doncic, James Harden, Damian Lillard, Ben Simmons, Jayson Tatum, Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook, and Domantas Sabonis.
This comes just a day after Jokic put together an unbelievable performance in the Nuggets unprobable victory over Utah. Jokic became just the ninth player in NBA history to post a stat line of 30 points, 20 rebounds (21 to be exact), and 10 assists en route to his 39th career triple-double.
Jokic and the Nuggets will be back in action on Saturday night in Phoenix against the Suns. As for the All-Star game, that game will tip-off on February 16th at 6 pm MDT and will be televised nationally on TNT.
