Nikola Jokic smashing a Larry Bird record is even more impressive than it looks

Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic breaks so many records that I can't blame you if you no longer bat an eye when he passes some NBA legend. For instance, if you brushed past Jokic becoming the fastest player in NBA history to reach 15,000 points, 7,500 rebounds and 5,000 assists on Tuesday night... that's fine. Those numbers seem kind of random anyway.

But Jokic becoming the fastest player to do anything is even more impressive than it seems because early in his career, he was a very talented center — but not a focal point of a developing Nuggets team.

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In his rookie year, Jokic averaged 21.7 minutes per game. In his second season, he averaged 29.7 minutes per game. Bird, meanwhile, averaged 36.0 minutes per game as a rookie and 39.5 minutes per game in his second season. In his first two NBA seasons (164 career games), Bird played 6191 minutes. In Jokic's first 164 games — two seasons plus the first 11 games in 2017-18 — he played 4097 minutes.

It's true — Bird played over 2,000 more minutes than Jokic did in their first few seasons. The difference between their minutes played through 164 games is higher than the minutes total Jokic played in either of his first two NBA seasons.

Jokic basically gave Bird an entire season head start, and still smashed his record by ninety games. This is hard to fathom. It's like prime Usain Bolt giving everyone a 20-meter head start in a 100-meter dash and still winning Gold.

Nikola Jokic is almost unprecedented

You don't need me to remind you how good Nikola Jokic is; you can literally watch any Nuggets game and you'll be reminded quickly that he exists on another plane of basketball ability than pretty much everyone else.

But to set an NBA record for fewest games to accomplish a points, rebounds and assists milestone after easing into an NBA rotation is silly. I can't wait to talk about whatever record he breaks, like, next week. I'm sure it will be just as outrageous.

We don't often talk about Nikola Jokic's peak because we all pretty much assume he's already in it... but are we sure? Can we say for certain he's not going to get a lot better than he is right now?