DENVER \u2014 Nikola Joki\u0107 now stands alone among centers.<\/p>\n
The Denver Nuggets superstar on Thursday night broke the NBA record for career regular-season assists by a center, passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.<\/p>\n
Joki\u0107 has amassed 5,667 assists in 771 games. Abdul-Jabbar compiled 5,660 assists, but he did so in a total of 1,560 games with the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers.<\/p>\n
Asked how much joy he derives from setting the record, Joki\u0107 answered, \u201cIn this moment, not a lot, because you don\u2019t have time to think about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joki\u0107 led the Nuggets to a 126-115 victory over the Orlando Magic at Ball Arena, and he did it in typical Joki\u0107 fashion: with his 177th career triple-double. He scored 23 points, collected 11 rebounds and dished out 13 assists.<\/p>\n
He broke Abdul-Jabbar\u2019s record with 6:26 remaining in Thursday\u2019s second quarter, firing a pass to teammate Jalen Pickett, who was stationed at the left break of the 3-point line. Pickett caught the basketball and elevated, swishing his jumper.<\/p>\n
Pickett\u2019s 3-pointer helped Denver end the second quarter on a 35-7 run to take control of the game.<\/p>\n
An informal list of the greatest passing centers in NBA history includes Wilt Chamberlain, who led the league in total assists during the 1967-68 season, with 702.<\/p>\n
Chamberlain ranks third all-time among centers in assists, with 4,643. Bill Russell ranks fourth, with 4,100.<\/p>\n
Other great passing centers include Bill Walton, whose career was marred by injuries, and Lithuanian center Arvydas Sabonis, who joined the NBA at 30 years old.<\/p>\n
Abdul-Jabbar won six NBA titles and the league MVP award six times.<\/p>\n
On Feb. 7, 2023, LeBron James passed Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA\u2019s all-time leading scorer.<\/p>\n
And now, Joki\u0107 has passed Abdul-Jabbar as the all-time assist leader among centers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s such a cool thing because it\u2019s Kareem, who was passed by LeBron as the all-time leading scorer, which puts in perspective who Nikola passed,\u201d Denver coach David Adelman said. \u201cSo it\u2019s a celebration of both people. It\u2019s somebody that completely changed the game, with the skyhook, the longevity he played. In the modern era, we talk about Tom Brady and all these people. Go look at Kareem.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joki\u0107 arguably made the biggest single play of Thursday\u2019s Magic-Nuggets game. After Denver\u2019s lead shrunk to 121-115 with 1:32 remaining in the game, Joki\u0107 did what he arguably does best: pass.<\/p>\n
The Magic double-teamed Joki\u0107, sending Paolo Banchero to trap him alongside Wendell Carter Jr. Joki\u0107 hurled a pass to the left corner of the court, where Cam Johnson caught the ball, elevated and swished a 3-pointer that put the game out of reach.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was tough,\u201d Carter said. \u201cWe were trying to speed the game up, so that\u2019s why we trapped. But that\u2019s what he does. He\u2019s one of the best to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joki\u0107 has the record to prove it.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe just does exactly the right thing for his teammates,\u201d Adelman said.<\/p>\n
A total of 5,667 times \u2014 and counting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DENVER \u2014 Nikola Joki\u0107 now stands alone among centers. The Denver Nuggets superstar on Thursday night broke the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":355367,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,2898,459,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-355366","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-denver-nuggets","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=355366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355366\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/355367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=355366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=355366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=355366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}