A car ride and a Game 7 loss that activated Nikola Jokic into an MVP - ESPN

IT WAS A suggestion at first. The kind of thing a friend brings up during a long car ride when there will be plenty of time to discuss it. And in the winter of 2019, Denver Nuggets strength and conditioning coach Felipe Eichenberger had his pick of long car rides to the airport with star center Nikola Jokic to choose from.

The two had grown close in the four years they'd worked together. Eichenberger spent a month with Jokic in the big man's native Serbia each offseason. Jokic was present when Eichenberger's daughter was born — and for all of her birthday parties afterward. Before games, Jokic often went into Eichenberger's office to escape the noise of the locker room.

Jokic had started talking with his friend and training coach about getting in better shape. He would text Eichenberger a bodybuilding video and would then joke he wanted to look like that someday. Or he'd mention that his knees or back hurt after games and would ask Eichenberger if losing weight might help with that.

For years, Jokic had been told by coaches, executives and talking heads in the media that he needed to get in better condition if he wanted to succeed in the NBA. But now it was coming from within.

It was time for Jokic to hear this.

«You can be MVP in this league,» Eichenberger told him.

Jokic had just been named to his first All-Star team. He had won a Player of the Week award in early February. The Nuggets were in first place in their division. Everything was trending upward. Which meant it was time to start pushing Jokic to an uncomfortable place: superstardom.

«He got mad at me,» Eichenberger says, laughing at the memory. «He got pretty heated. He's like, 'That's not the player I am. I pass more than I score.… I'm not selfish.'»

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