Nikola Jokić has spent a decade bending the definition of what a center is allowed to be. On Thursday night in Denver, he bent the record book again.
In the Nuggets’ 126–115 win over the Orlando Magic, Jokić posted 23 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds, a triple-double that also made him the NBA’s all-time assists leader among centers, moving past Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Jokić entered the night six assists shy of Kareem’s long-standing mark of 5,660, and he broke it in the second quarter when he found Jalen Pickett for a three with 6:26 left in the first half, a pass that felt almost too on-brand: simple, on time, and somehow inevitable.
By the final buzzer, Jokić had pushed the number to 5,667 career assists, officially placing him alone at the top of a list that includes some of the most iconic big men ever to touch the ball.
The efficiency of the climb is what makes it jaw-dropping. Kareem finished his career with 5,660 assists in 1,560 regular-season games. Jokić reached and passed that total in 771 games, essentially getting there in about half the time.
Denver needed all of Jokić’s orchestration to steady an early wobble. Orlando jumped out in front and briefly had the Nuggets chasing, but Jamal Murray’s second-quarter burst flipped the game, and Denver’s offense eventually settled into its familiar shape: everything running through the big man’s hands, with cutters and shooters orbiting like they already know where the next pass is going.
The Nuggets extended their win streak to six behind Murray’s 32 points and a closing stretch that never let the Magic’s late push fully breathe.
And then came the most Jokić part of the night; his reaction to history, which sounded more like a guy brushing off a compliment than a player stepping into a permanent statistic. Asked about what the milestone meant, Jokić delivered the kind of blunt, deadpan perspective that has become his public signature:
“I always say those things are something for after career. I think the legacy for after career that I’m gonna look back on, on the porch drinking beer, and telling lies to my kids.”
“I’m gonna look back, while on the porch drinking beers, and tell lies to my kids”
-Nikola Jokic on becoming the NBA All-Time assist leader amongst Center’s#MileHighBasketball— Gino Fornaro (@ginoliciousboss) December 19, 2025
It’s funny because it’s honest, and it’s honest because it’s very Jokić. He isn’t campaigning for immortality in real time; he’s accumulating it anyway. The record matters not just because he passed Kareem, but because of what it confirms: Jokić isn’t a center who happens to pass. He’s one of the great passers in NBA history who happens to be built like a center. And now, even the most traditional category – “assists by a center” – belongs to the player who has spent his career making tradition look outdated.
