Nikola Jokić's advice on failure and how to copy his NBA success applies to more than basketball

Everything’s coming up Nikola Jokić these days. 

The 2023 NBA Finals MVP has had quite a week, celebrating a championship with the Denver Nuggets and cementing himself as perhaps the best basketball player on the planet.

Jokić’s success is likely to be a shining star to guide future NBA players, and the Nuggets star is giving folks some insights into how he’s gotten to where he is. 

“If you want to be successful… you need to be bad, then you need to be good,” Jokić told NBA media this week. “Then when you’re good, you need to fail. Then when you fail, you’re going to figure it out… There is no shortcuts. It’s a journey.”

"If you want to be successful, you need to be bad, then you need to be good. Then when you're good, you need to fail. Then when you fail, you're going to figure it out… There is no shortcuts. It's a journey."

Nikola Jokic on the journey to an NBA titlepic.twitter.com/0jrVPAAEG1

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) June 13, 2023

This is an incredibly humble and wise response from Jokić, a player whose gone from being drafted during a Taco Bell commercial break to playing some of the best basketball of any athlete around. 

Failure is always your best teacher, and it seems that Jokić knows as well as anyone that the journey to the top is paved with plenty of humility and hard-earned lessons.