It didn't take long for the Denver Nuggets to recover from a painful loss to the Golden State Warriors in the season opener. After putting up a great fight against Steve Kerr's team, where they led for most of the game, they eventually fell in overtime following an unreal performance from Stephen Curry .
However, the Colorado team quickly bounced back with a win at Ball Arena against the Phoenix Suns , 133–111. The player of the game, no surprise, was Nikola Jokic with 14 points, 14 rebounds, 15 assists and three steals. He became the fifth player in NBA history to open a season with back-to-back triple-doubles.
Jokic spent 32 minutes on the floor against the Suns. When he was on the bench, Jonas Valanciunas came in as his replacement and did a great job.
After the game, the Nuggets superstar was asked how he feels when the Lithuanian takes the floor replacing him. He responded by quoting Thomas Shelby from the British hit series "Peaky Blinders."
"I never relax and breathe easy, my friend. Tommy Shelby said there's no rest for me in this world," Jokic said with a smile on his face.
Although he spent only 13 minutes on the court, the Lithuanian center was very aggressive, finishing with 12 points and seven rebounds while shooting 4-of-10 from the field. Given the blowout, he probably could've played a few more minutes, but David Adelman, once realizing the game was done, sent all the young players onto the floor.
Valanciunas has looked impressive to start the season, despite the small sample size of just two games, and has given the impression that he could truly be the best backup Jokic has had in Denver, as many predicted.
The Nuggets have had some solid centers over the years, but very few have thrived in limited opportunities playing behind the best center in the league. Oklahoma City Thunder center Isaiah Hartenstein , who played just 30 games with the Nuggets, reflected on that challenge .
"Back when I was in Denver, I kept wondering why I wasn't getting more of a chance," he said . "For every guy who's a backup for Jokic, that's probably the hardest job in the world. You play 10 minutes and whatever you do, it's not good enough compared to when Jokic does it. That was the hardest part. After that, I worked on my mental strength and everything started to get better."
Valanciunas took 10 shots in 13 minutes yesterday, while Jokic, in 32 minutes, took only eight, yet he was the best player on the court by far. It felt like he could've done even more if he had wanted to be more aggressive.
And that's the biggest challenge when you're Jokic's backup. As we see with Hartenstein today — he was one of the key players in the Thunder's title run last year — no matter how good you are, it's almost impossible to get the minutes you want behind Jokic. That will be Valanciunas's biggest task: to fully embrace his role off the bench, because if he keeps playing at this level, Jokic might finally be able to breathe easy while sitting on the bench.
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Oct 26, 2025, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
