Nikola Jokic showed off mindset that made him an NBA champion years ago

Nikola Jokic is at the top of the NBA mountain and it's hard to say that he doesn't deserve it.

He's a do-everything player and arguably the main reason the Denver Nuggets just won their first ever NBA Championship. He's not the only reason, mind you, because he has some incredible teammates — but he is undoubtedly the main reason.

A two-time league MVP, Jokic averaged 30.2 points, 14 rebounds and 7.2 assists per game in the NBA Finals, a series that Denver won in five games. On the season, he averaged 24.5. 11.8 rebounds and 9.8 assists per game.

Speaking of his teammates, though, Denver undoubtedly wouldn't have been able to lift the Larry O'Brien trophy without the likes of players like Jamal Murray or Aaron Gordon, for instance. Murray had 21.4 points and 10 assists per game in the Finals. Gordon pitched in with 14 points and 7.4 rebounds per game.

Basketball is a team sport, and what has made Jokic such a success in the NBA is his ability to involve his teammates. You don't average almost 10 assists per game as a big man if all you're doing is turning your back to the basket and putting the ball up in the paint. 

Jokic is a true facilitator, which makes his points-per-game average all the more astounding. He knows the value of the four other players on the floor, and a recent tweet from NBA Draft Analyst Jonathan Givony points to the fact that Jokic has known the value of team basketball long before he became a MVP.

"Basketball is about teammates," Jokic apparently told Givony in 2014. "When I’m open, I score. When I'm not, I pass. I play basketball as simple as I can. I don't jump high. I don't run fast. I don't think so much about the NBA."