Best Draft Pick In Denver Nuggets History

It would be wrong not to mention Carmelo Anthony, a legitimate Hall of Famer who the Denver Nuggets selected third overall in the 2003 NBA Draft out of Syracuse, when talking about the team’s greatest draft pick ever. Anthony arrived in Denver to a franchise that had finished 17-65 the year before, averaged 21 points as a rookie, and helped the team to 43 wins and their first playoff appearance since 1995. Not bad for a 19-year-old who had just led his team to an NCAA Championship.  One of the greatest offensive players the game has ever seen, Anthony's eight seasons in Denver, although special, did not result in anything more than one run to the Western Conference Final.  A great pick, and an amazing career, but just not good enough. 

The greatest draft pick in Denver Nuggets history is one that apparently nobody else in the NBA wanted.  With the 41st overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, the Nuggets selected a chubby, 6’11” teenager from Sombor, Serbia named Nikola Jokic. His selection was announced on the ESPN ticker at the bottom of the screen, while a Taco Bell commercial aired. That’s how much, or little, NBA GMs, scouts, and the media thought of Jokic. Clearly, someone did not do their homework. 

To be fair, Jokic ended up being a typical European draft and stash, spending the year after his draft playing in the Serbian League, earning multiple regular and playoff honors before making his way to Denver in 2015. As a rookie, Jokic started 55 of 80 games, splitting time with the team’s three other big men as the Nuggets looked to figure out a roster of journeymen and young talent. Averaging 10 points and 7 rebounds, Jokic finished third in Rookie of the Year voting behind Karl-Anthony Towns and Kristaps Porzingis. 

Over the next nine seasons, the NBA has seen Jokic enter his name into the conversation for the greatest center of all time. An NBA championship, Finals MVP, three MVP awards (the lowest drafted player ever to win a MVP), eight All-Star Game appearances, and seven All-NBA Team honors. 

A nightly threat for a triple-double (191 and counting, and is on pace to average his second straight triple-double season), the Nuggets go as far as Jokic can carry them. Despite being called unathletic, slow, and unworthy of a first-round pick by those who should have known better, Jokic has spent the better part of a decade proving every last one of them wrong. The greatest draft pick in Denver Nuggets history was interrupted by a fast food commercial, and for a player who lets his play do the talking for him, it feels perfectly fitting.