June 26, 2014, is considered the day that changed the Denver Nuggets’ modern trajectory: the day they selected Nikola Jokic at No. 41 overall in the NBA Draft. No one could have known what would follow — including the people making the pick. Jokic’s selection transformed the direction of an organization still transitioning out of the post-Carmelo Anthony era. It’s now the Jokic era, punctuated by his NBA MVP honor this week, the first player in franchise history to win the award.
“We get all this unfair credit for drafting him,” Denver president of basketball operations Tim Connelly told The Athletic. “We had two picks prior! We could have picked him earlier. We waited ’til 41.
