Denver Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic stated categorically that the full physical condition of the players will be of key importance in the team's battle for the NBA championship ring in the upcoming campaign.
The three-time winner of the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award identifies injuries as the main stumbling block that stopped the team on the way to a new triumph at the top of the strongest basketball championship on the planet.
In an interview with the media Complex Sports, the Serbian center did not hold back on the physical problems that have accompanied the club in recent years:
“First of all, we definitely have to stay healthy. That's going to be the number one key for us. We've failed that test the last few years, I think two or three seasons in a row. It seems like we haven't been healthy when we needed it the most. So I think health is the number one priority“, Jokic said.
Last season, he himself was out of action for 16 consecutive games due to a hyperextension of his knee – an unusually long absence for the physically resilient leader of the Colorado Avalanche.
The absence of key players like Aaron Gordon and Peyton Watson due to injuries had its say in the most important phase of the championship. The depleted Nuggets squad was eliminated in the first round of the eliminations by the Minnesota Timberwolves.
With a view to the approaching 2026/2027 season, Jokic and his colleagues enter with the ambition of another strong performance and a trophy, as long as the medical staff and luck are on their side.