The Skinny Nikola Jokic Rumors Are True And It’s Jarring

The NBA’s hiatus has led to plenty of stories about how players are (or are not) staying in shape for the upcoming restarted season. There are rumblings that some like Luka Doncic “aren’t in the best shape,” while others like James Harden have publicly been documenting their workouts and appear to have dropped significant weight.

There have been rumors that Nikola Jokic, whose weight has often been a topic of conversation in his career, was actually in the camp with Harden of those that have slimmed down pretty tremendously during quarantine, as he headed back to Serbia to be at home. Given Jokic’s tendency to show up for the start of seasons in questionable shape, those rumors — with him apparently showing the Nuggets staff his abs via video calls — caused some serious skepticism among the NBA community.

However, confirmation came on Thursday in the form of videos from Serbia that indeed show a slimmed down Joker strolling around a gym and, truly, looking to be in the best shape of his life.

Conditioning has long been a talking point when it comes to Jokic, even though last postseason he proved he can play big minutes in playoff series while sustaining a high level of play. Now it appears he’ll be coming into the NBA’s restart needing, if anything, to put on a few pounds and strength, which is the opposite discussion we’ve ever had of the uber-talented All-Star center. A more agile Jokic is a terrifying proposition, given his already elite footwork and skill, and it will be fascinating to see how a slimmer Jokic performs when the Nuggets restart their season in Orlando.