{"id":356129,"date":"2025-12-19T19:47:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T19:47:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/356129\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T19:47:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T19:47:12","slug":"nba-news-nuggets-nikola-jokic-surpasses-legend-for-most-assists-by-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/356129\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA news: Nuggets&#8217; Nikola Joki\u0107 surpasses legend for most assists by center"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!\n  <\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/sports\/nba\/denver-nuggets\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Denver Nuggets<\/a> star center Nikola Joki\u0107 made history during the team\u2019s 126-115 win over the Orlando Magic Thursday night at Ball Arena.<\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable\">Joki\u0107, 30, surpassed Los Angeles Lakers legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the most assists by a center in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/sports\/nba\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">NBA<\/a> history. Abdul-Jabbar had 5,660 career assists, and Joki\u0107 surpassed him when he passed to Jalen Pickett, who nailed the 3-pointer.<\/p>\n<p>Joki\u0107 recorded his 13th triple-double of the season, scoring 23 points with 13 assists and 11 rebounds.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/sports\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/nikola-jokic-passes-nuggets-magic.jpg\" alt=\"Nikola Jokic passes\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Denver Nuggets center Nikola Joki\u0107, right, looks to pass the ball under pressure from Orlando Magic center Wendell Carter Jr. in the first half in Denver, Colo., Dec. 18, 2025. (David Zalubowski\/AP Photo)<\/p>\n<p>The three-time MVP has been great for the Nuggets this season. In 26 games, Joki\u0107 has averaged a triple-double, scoring 29.6 points per game while hauling in 12.3 rebounds and dishing out 10.3 assists.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The seven-time All-Star is already one of the best playmaking centers in the history of the sport.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/sports\/nets-honor-australia-hanukkah-attack-victims-light-menorah-during-game\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">NETS HONOR AUSTRALIA HANUKKAH ATTACK VICTIMS, LIGHT MENORAH DURING GAME<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/nikola-jokic-triple-threat-nuggets-magic.jpg\" alt=\"Nikola Jokic looks to pass\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Denver Nuggets center Nikola Joki\u0107, left, looks to pass the ball as Orlando Magic center Goga Bitadze, front right, and guard Noah Penda defend in the first half in Denver, Colo., Dec. 18, 2025. (David Zalubowski\/AP Photo)<\/p>\n<p>Joki\u0107&#8217;s play is a large reason the Nuggets are 20-6 and second in the Western Conference, behind only the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/sports\/nba\/oklahoma-city-thunder\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a>, who are 25-2. The Nuggets\u2019 win over the Magic was their sixth consecutive win.<\/p>\n<p>Nuggets guard Jamal Murray was also key in the team\u2019s win, catching fire in the second quarter. Murray scored 20 of his 32 points in a game-turning second quarter for Denver, making five of six 3-point attempts in the second quarter after the Nuggets fell behind by 14.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.onelink.me\/xLDS?pid=AppArticleLink&amp;af_dp=foxnewsaf%3A%2F%2F&amp;af_web_dp=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxnews.com%2Fapps-products\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/jamal-murray-dribbles-nuggets-magic.jpg\" alt=\"Jamal Murray drives to basket\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray, front, drives to the basket as Orlando Magic guard Anthony Black defends in the first half in Denver, Colo., Dec. 18, 2025. (David Zalubowski\/AP Photo)<\/p>\n<p>Murray, who has never been named to an All-Star team in his eight seasons, is averaging a career-best 25.2 points this season and 28.1 in December, which includes a 52-point game against the Indiana Pacers two weeks ago.<\/p>\n<p>The Nuggets&#8217; next game is against the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/sports\/nba\/houston-rockets\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Houston Rockets<\/a> (16-8) Saturday at 5 p.m. ET.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Associated Press contributed to this report.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Follow Fox News Digital\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FoxNewsSports_\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">sports coverage on X<\/a>, and subscribe to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/newsletters\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Ryan Canfield is a digital production assistant for Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Denver Nuggets star center Nikola Joki\u0107 made history during the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356130,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,2898,459,15716,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-356129","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-orlando-magic","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356129","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=356129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356129\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}