On October 28, 2026, at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Nikola Jokić recorded his 200th NBA regular-season triple-double in Denver’s 104–91 victory over the Pelicans. The calendar supplied an extra flourish: it happened exactly 11 years after his NBA debut, a night on which he scored just two points.
That anniversary, highlighted in Danas’s report, connects two very different versions of the same career. The newcomer had barely introduced himself to the league. The veteran left New Orleans sharing a statistical milestone with only one other player in NBA history.
Two points became two hundred triple-doubles
Jokić first appeared for Denver against Houston on October 28, 2015. The official debut box score records his two points. Eleven years later, his line against New Orleans read 21 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists, with eight makes from 13 field-goal attempts.
The anniversary makes the achievement unusually neat, but the categories matter too. These are 200 triple-doubles in regular-season games. Playoff performances belong to a separate tally; adding them would describe a different career total. The number reached on Wednesday measures one specific, sustained body of work.
The contrast is about opportunity as much as arithmetic. Two points capture the small beginning of a single NBA appearance. Two hundred triple-doubles capture repeated contributions in several parts of the game. Placing those figures beside the anniversary gives a familiar career milestone a more personal frame.
Nine to catch, ten to pass
As BasketNews explains, Russell Westbrook is the only other player to have reached 200 regular-season triple-doubles. His record stands at 209. Jokić therefore needs nine more to draw level and ten to move ahead outright. Reaching this milestone puts him close to the summit without yet making him the record holder.
There is also a Denver connection on both sides of the comparison: Westbrook reached his own 200th triple-double during his spell as Jokić’s Nuggets teammate. Now his former teammate has joined him in that exclusive group. Two players, the same landmark, and a shared stretch in the same uniform.
A celebration inside an unfinished start
The win brought Denver to 2–2. Sports Illustrated’s account describes a team still finding its rhythm after an uneven start. For Denver, the personal landmark arrived alongside a useful road victory rather than in a losing effort. A memorable personal night also helped the team recover some ground after an uneven opening.
The season still has its own questions, and Wednesday’s achievement cannot answer all of them. What it offers is a striking way to measure the distance already travelled: from a two-point introduction to membership of a two-man statistical club, on the very same date 11 years apart.
Sources and further reading
- NBA official game statistics
- Denver Nuggets official recap
- Sports Illustrated on Yahoo Sports
- BasketNews milestone report
- Danas anniversary report
- NBA debut box score
- ATV anniversary report
