The Denver Nuggets handed the Oklahoma City Thunder their first loss of this year's postseason thanks to an Aaron Gordon three-point make at the buzzer. They would not have been in position to do so without the excellence of Nikola Jokic.
The MVP big man put up another preposterous statline in a season chock-full of them, scoring 42 points and bringing down 22 rebounds while shooting 15-of-29 from the floor. He also went 10-of-13 from the free throw line, which Thunder fans did not appreciate and made that very clear during the game. At one point late in the fourth quarter of the tight contest the fans at Paycom Center began to collectively chant "free throw merchant" at the Serbian superstar.
Jokic was unfazed in the moment and had the perfect response when asked about it by media after the 121-119 Game 1 Nuggets win.
"To be honest, I didn't hear that. But that's kinda funny."
Jokic on the free throw merchant chants:
— Oh No He Didn't (@ohnohedidnt24) May 6, 2025
"To be honest, I didn't hear that. But that's kinda funny" 😂 pic.twitter.com/uXRoWXoKL6
The best way to deal with trash talk is often to just give the trash talkers their flowers and move on. It's no surprise Jokic took that road.
Of course, he could have pointed out that the Thunder's best player and potential MVP, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, has dealt with similar chants all season because he led the NBA in free throw makes per game and attempted 8.8 free throw attempts per game. Whereas Jokic attempted 6.4 per game— several measures below SGA, although that ranked seventh in the league this past season.
It should be a competitive series filled with fireworks and clearly the back-and-forth has already begun.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Nikola Jokic Had Perfect Response to Thunder Crowd Chanting 'Free Throw Merchant'.
