The NBA has announced that Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokić has been named the Western Conference Player of the Month for games played in January.
Jokić wins the award for the first time this season and the fifth time in his career, the most Player of the Month honors in franchise history.
The NBA’s back-to-back Most Valuable Player averaged 24.0 points, 11.6 rebounds, 11.3 assists and 1.20 steals while shooting .677 from the field and .538 from three-point range in 12 games during January. He helped lead the Nuggets to a record of 10-2 in games in which he played and they currently sit atop the Western Conference with a record of 35-16.
Jokić, 27, recorded eight triple-doubles in January including posting one in five of his last six games, adding to his league-leading 16 for the season (16-0 in those games). He joins Wilt Chamberlain as the only centers in NBA history to record eight or more triple doubles in a single month. Jokic also became the first player to have shooting splits of .650 from the field, .500 from three and .850 from the free throw line in a month.
Joker was named to his fifth straight All-Star game and third consecutive year being named an All-Star starter on January 26th. He joins Alex English and David Thompson as the only Nugget players to be selected to start in consecutive All-Star games. Amongst the NBA, for the month, he ranked first in assists per game (11.3), third in +/- (11.4), fifth in double-doubles (9) and seventh in rebounds per game (11.3).
The Sombor, Serbia native is averaging 25.1 points, 11.1 rebounds and a career-high 10.0 assists, while shooting .631 from the field and .388 from three in 33.6 minutes per game. If those averages hold, he will become the third player in NBA history to average a triple double for a single season (Robertson, Westbrook).