Nikola Jokic ensured he will become only the third player in NBA history to finish the season with a triple-double average as he starred in the Denver Nuggets’ win against the Memphis Grizzlies.
The Serb centre will average double digits for points, rebounds and assists after claiming his 34th triple-double of the season.
He scored 26 points, 12 assists and 26 rebounds in the Nuggets’ 117-109 victory, which keeps them in a tie for fourth place in the Western Conference with one game of the regular season remaining.
Elsewhere, Luka Doncic scored 39 points to help the Los Angeles Lakers secure third place in the Western Conference with a 140-109 victory at home to the Houston Rockets.
Only two men had previously finished a regular season in the NBA with a triple-double average – Jokic’s Denver team-mate Russell Westbrook, who did so three times with Oklahoma City and once with the Washington Wizards, and Oscar Robertson, who did it in the 1961-62 season for Cincinnati.
Jokic’s 12 assists against the Grizzlies means he is guaranteed to finish the season with an assist average of more than 10 for the first time in his career.
He is also averaging in double digits for rebounds and needs 47 points in Denver’s final game of the regular season to push his points average above 30, which would also be a career best.
The 30-year-old has already been named most valuable player (MVP) three times in the NBA’s regular season, and is one of the top candidates again this year, along with Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
“If he doesn’t win the MVP, it’s the greatest season of all time not to win the MVP,” said the Nuggets’ interim coach David Adelman.
Jokic has 164 regular-season triple-doubles in his career, the second-highest tally in NBA history behind Westbrook’s 203.
He will bid to extend that tally in Denver’s final game of the regular season at home to the Houston Rockets on Sunday as the Nuggets aim to seal the fourth-place finish they need to earn home-court advantage in the play-offs.
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