It feels like Nikola Jokic is doing things the NBA has never seen before on a nightly basis as he tries to carry the Denver Nuggets up the brutal Western Conference standings. After leading the Nuggets to their fourth straight win on Thursday night against Sacramento Kings, Jokic put his name in the record books for two bits of NBA history.
The NBA screwed Nikola Jokic out of one of the longest shots ever
Nikola Jokic’s shot was way further than 66-feet, and the NBA should correct it
Ricky O'Donnell has covered basketball at all levels for more than a decade at SB Nation. He’s currently the Associate Director of Programming.
As time was ticking down to the third quarter buzzer, Jokic attempted a nearly full-court heave that was nothing but net. The shot was logged in the official play-by-play data as 66-feet, but it’s certainly longer than that. The league’s official website also has it 66-feet. This isn’t right. Watch Jokic’s shot from the opposite free throw line here, and then we’ll get into the actual distance.
The free throw line is 18-feet, 10-inches from the baseline on the near side. The court is 94 feet long, and Jokic heaves it directly from the opposite free-throw line. If Jokic’s was absolutely head-on with the basket it would have gone 75 feet, and it feels like the ball had to travel another 5.5-feet laterally if the league adjusts for that.
Jokic’s shot looks like about 79-feet or so to me. Will the NBA adjust it?
After the Nuggets’ win, the NBA put out a video of the 10 longest shots over the past decade. You can see that Jokic’s shot is pretty obviously further than some of the ones preceding it.
The longest shot in NBA history is Baron Davis’ 89-foot heave in 2001. Our friends at Secret Base made a wonderful video about it:
Wikipedia has a list of the 10 longest shots in NBA history. Jokic’s shot deserves to be on this list:
Watch Andre Drummond’s supposedly 71-foot shot from 2016 again here. There’s no way that shot was five feet further back than Jokic’s. Jokic’s shot looks longer adjusting for the angle.
Will the NBA issue a correction and give Jokic the feet he deserves for that third quarter buzzer-beater? We have to wait and see. What’s wild is the long shot wasn’t the only bit of Jokic history made in the win vs. the Kings.
Jokic finished the game with 35 points, 22 rebounds, and 17 assists in the win. The last time someone put up a triple-double with 35/20/15? You have to go back to Wilt Chamberlain in 1968. That’s pretty good company.
The MVP race between Jokic and Oklahoma City Thunder superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is too close to call. It seems to swing back and forth every week.
Jokic is just a monster. Give this man the extra feet on his heave, because that was way longer than 66-feet.
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