Danilo Gallinari Reflects on Nikola Jokic’s Rise to Stardom

In the first couple of seasons Nikola Jokic was in the mix for the Denver Nuggets. He wasn't quite the top-of-the-world-level talent he's known as today.

At 20 and 21 years old in his first two seasons, just finding his footing in the league as a rookie coming overseas from Serbia, it took some time for Jokic to develop into a yearly MVP contender; something that not many in the world, and even his teammates at the time like former Nuggets forward Danilo Gallinari, ever expected to come to fruition.

On a recent appearance on the White Noise Podcast with Derrick White, Gallinari spoke about his short time spent with Jokic during the first two years of his career, making it clear that he never expected him to reach his current heights, but he definitely saw something for his future in the league.

"I didn't think he was going to be the best player in the world," Gallinari said of Jokic. "Towards the end of the second season, he started to throw some, couple of triple doubles in there. In the last couple of months, he had like three or four triple doubles. I'm like, 'Okay, this is pretty cool."

"I was like, 'Okay, now you did it. I'm sorry for you, but you've got to do it every night now.' And I think he really followed what I told him to do. And a triple double now for him is like us drinking coffee in the morning."

Danilo Gallinari Didn’t Foresee Nikola Jokic's MVP Rise

Jokic was far from the player he is now, both on and off the floor, when he first came aboard the Nuggets from Serbia.

He was far from the physical presence he is currently, didn't have the elite playmaking ability he's now known for, and his scoring arsenal was far from refined. Off the floor, he wasn't the locker room voice or veteran leader he's since developed into as the longest-tenured Nuggets player on the roster.

However, day by day, and game by game, that would soon come to fruition for Jokic. And in the mind of Gallinari, the potential he had in store really began to see take shape once his triple-doubles were increasingly racked up.

"He didn't talk that much," said Gallinari. "[When] we go on the road, he was playing games all the time. He never got out of the room when we were going on the road. Now, of course, he's a leader of the team. He brings everybody out. He talks way more. So, he went through that confidence process that he's not just on the court, but he's a leader for the team and for the franchise.”

Nov 24, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; Denver Nuggets forward Danilo Gallinari (8) passes the ball to center Nikola Jokic (15) under pressure from Los Angeles Clippers center DeAndre Jordan (6) and guard Wesley Johnson (33) in the first quarter at the Pepsi Center. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images | Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images

Fast forward to current day, and Jokic is third in the NBA's all-time triple doubles, by far the all-time leader in triple-doubles and assists for a big man, and in due time, could become number one on the all-time leaderboard for triple-doubles in order to pass Russell Westbrook— so long as he can keep up his current rate of dominance for the next handful of years ahead.

Having cemented himself as one of the all-time greats, even those like Gallinari who saw him up close and personal un the early days, might not have seen those strides coming to form. But just as Jokic seems to do every season, he's defied the odds and continued to keep getting his game better and more refined as the world's best.

Danilo Gallinari Didn’t Foresee Nikola Jokic's MVP Rise

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