Nikola Jokic Lands High Praise From Rudy Gobert Ahead of Playoffs

The Denver Nuggets are tasked with their third playoff matchup in the past four years against the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of this year's postseason, setting up for another battle of the bigs between three-time league MVP Nikola Jokic and four-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert.

In their playoff meetings thus far, Jokic has managed to hold the edge over his French foe. He's 11-7 against Gobert in their all-time postseason matchups, averaging an impressive 27.9 points, 10.2 rebounds, and 7.2 assists in their 18 outings played against one another thus far.

Even for an all-world defensive talent like Gobert, someone like Jokic on the other end is bound to give the Timberwolves trouble on that end of the floor every single night, which ultimately makes the Nuggets' big man worthy of some notable praise in the eyes of the Minnesota center.

“I think he’s a winner, whatever he does, he plays to win," Gobert said of Jokic, via Andrew Dukowitz. "He’s selfless, he tries to make the right play every time."

"I like his humility, I think he’s someone that doesn’t really care about the outside noise, he’s just here to show up, help his team win, and go home. I like that, I respect that”

Rudy Gobert’s thoughts on Nikola Jokic after playing him so many times

“I think he’s a winner, whatever he does, he plays to win. He’s selfless, he tries to make the right play every time… I like his humility, I think he’s someone that doesn’t really care about the outside… pic.twitter.com/5sL6rrPuSB
— Andrew Dukowitz (@adukeMN) April 14, 2026

Rudy Gobert Commends Nikola Jokic Before Nuggets-Wolves Series

Even as Gobert continues to creep deeper into his 30s, he's maintained his status as one of the most talented defensive big men in the league today. Even this season, he averaged over 1.5 blocks a game and sustained his same amount of defensive win shares that he had from last season (4.0).

From the Nuggets' perspective, having Gobert in the middle of the paint will certainly make the task tougher for their upcoming first-round series.

The Timberwolves rank eighth in the NBA for defensive rating (113.5), and have Gobert's length and presence as an anchor in the middle alongside other multi-positional defenders like Jaden McDaniels and Anthony Edwards.

The positive for Denver is that they've got the presence of an offensive generator like Jokic on their own side to help their scoring output flow as smoothly and potently as it has through the past month of their regular season.

Nov 15, 2025; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic (15) passes the ball as Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert (27) plays defense in the first half at Target Center. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images | Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images

The Nuggets roll into the playoffs riding the high of a 12-game win streak, have seen Jokic playing some of the best ball of his career by leading the league in both rebounds and assists per game, and have a good amount of health on their side to help keep their offensive chugging forward as the best and more efficient in the league.

That'll make pulling off an upset easier said than done for the Timberwolves despite their defensive prowess and versatility. And especially as the Nuggets hold home-court advantage, it puts the odds even further in their favor lf Denver to take care of business coming out of the first round of action.

Sign up for our free Denver Nuggets On SI newsletter, and get breaking Nuggets news delivered to your inbox daily!

Add us as a preferred source on Google