SAD DEPARTURE :DENVER NUGGET captain Nikola Jokic have just announced his leaving immediately today after facing….
But the Joker’s playoff struggles have become a national story, and former NBA great Charles Barkley revealed his concern about Jokic’s status with the Denver Nuggets.
He’s wearing down,” Barkley said on Inside the NBA.
Jokic’s nightly averages in points and shooting percentage have been off in the postseason, while Denver is stuck in a tough Western Conference semifinals series against the top seed Oklahoma City Thunder.
OKC were 92-87 winners in Game 4 on Sunday and MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander again outplayed Jokic, who only shot 7-of-22 from the floor and was 2-of-8 on 3-pointers.
Denver was even worse from the field.
The Nuggets only connected on 31.3 percent of their field-goal attempts and 24.4 percent of their 3s.
Barkley partially blamed the NBA for bad scheduling, with both teams facing short rest periods.
But the Hall of Famer also took big shots at Denver’s roster, in-game coaching decisions, and Jokic’s overall durability.
“Denver has never addressed their backup center situation or their bench,” Barkley said.
That’s one of the things that hurt them last year. Because he (Jokic) gave out of gas last year against Rudy (Gobert) and Big Kat (Karl-Anthony Towns).
“I don’t think it’s fair to blame everything on the Joker. But he has not played well.”
