Nikola Jokic made NBA history in New Orleans on Wednesday night, October 28, 2026, recording his 200th career triple-double in the regular season as the Denver Nuggets beat the winless New Orleans Pelicans 104-91. Jokic finished with 21 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists, becoming only the second player in league history to reach 200 triple-doubles, behind only Russell Westbrook, and putting the NBA's all-time record firmly within reach this season.
The milestone came on a night when Denver never trailed. The Nuggets raced to a 22-point lead in the first half, survived a late Pelicans push, and closed out a wire-to-wire road win that also completed a two-game, home-and-home sweep of New Orleans and lifted Denver to 2-2 on the young season.
Denver set the tone immediately at the Smoothie King Center. Jamal Murray made his first three shots, all from deep, and the Nuggets shot 62 percent in the first quarter while building a 37-18 lead. Marvin Bagley's runner gave Denver its largest lead, 44-22, with about nine minutes remaining in the second quarter, and the Nuggets maintained a comfortable margin for most of the night.
New Orleans refused to fold. The Pelicans, who had trailed by as many as 22 points in the first half, chipped away in the second half and pulled to within five points midway through the fourth quarter. Zion Williamson, who scored a game-high 25 points, hit a fourth-quarter three-pointer that cut the Denver lead to 88-83. Murray answered straight away, first with a three-pointer and then with a driving finger roll on the next possession, pushing the lead back to 10.
Christian Braun then delivered the decisive late flurry. Braun, who had yet to connect from three-point range, knocked down back-to-back three-pointers during a critical late stretch, the second set up by DeMar DeRozan, extending the Denver lead to 12 points and effectively putting the game away. All five Nuggets starters finished in double figures: Murray led the way with 23 points, Jokic had 21, Aaron Gordon added 15 points and 11 rebounds, Braun scored 15 points, and Trevon Brazile chipped in 11 points.
For New Orleans, Derik Queen came off the bench for 11 points and 12 rebounds, and Jeremiah Fears scored 11 points. The Pelicans struggled from the perimeter all night, hitting just 7 of 30 three-point attempts, 23.3 percent, and they could never fully erase the early deficit despite Williamson's late surge. Denver, for its part, turned the ball over 17 times, including a season-high seven turnovers from Jokic, but its early shooting and late shot-making proved more than enough.
A triple-double, ten or more in three statistical categories in a single game, most commonly points, rebounds and assists, has become the signature of Jokic's career. The Serbian centre does not dominate games with raw athleticism alone; he controls them with passing, positioning and timing, and the 200th triple-double is the clearest possible measure of how consistently he has done it over more than a decade in the league.
Jokic, 31, is a three-time NBA Most Valuable Player, an eight-time All-Star and a six-time All-NBA first-team selection. He led the Nuggets to the franchise's first championship in 2023 and was named Finals MVP. Last season he led the entire NBA in rebounds and assists, and he recorded 34 triple-doubles in 2025-26, a pace that makes Westbrook's record look like a matter of when, not if.
The record book now reads: Westbrook 209, Jokic 200, and Oscar Robertson third with 181. Westbrook, Jokic's former Nuggets team-mate, announced his retirement this off-season after 18 seasons, leaving the record open for a player still producing at an elite level. Jokic passed Robertson some time ago to secure second place outright; the 200 mark is the latest, and most exclusive, barrier he has crossed.
The timing added another layer to the night. The NBA noted that the milestone came on the 11th anniversary of Jokic's NBA debut, a neat bookend for a player who arrived as a second-round pick and grew into one of the most dominant forces the league has ever seen. Through four games this season, Jokic is averaging 22.0 points, 10.5 rebounds and 9.0 assists, just shy of averaging a triple-double overall, and both of his triple-doubles this season have come against New Orleans.
The two games against the Pelicans tell the story of Denver's uneven start. On Saturday in Denver, Jokic finished with 35 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists as the Nuggets overcame a 23-point deficit to beat the Pelicans in overtime. On Wednesday in New Orleans, the script flipped: Denver led from the start and never trailed. In his two other games this season, Jokic has struggled by his standards, which has caused a little early concern, but the history books suggest that concern will not last long.
Reaching 200 triple-doubles matters because of how rare the company is. Only two players in the 79-year history of the NBA have done it, and the gap to third place is now 19 triple-doubles. Robertson, whose all-round game defined an era in the 1960s and 1970s, finished with 181. Jokic has already passed him and is now chasing a record many assumed would stand for a generation after Westbrook set it.
The pace also matters. Jokic recorded 34 triple-doubles last season alone. At anything close to that rate, ten more triple-doubles, the number he needs to pass Westbrook, could arrive well before the end of this campaign, possibly within weeks rather than months. That is why Wednesday night felt less like a farewell to a milestone and more like the start of a countdown.
There is also the matter of how Jokic gets his triple-doubles. He is a centre who leads his team's offence as a passer, and his assists often come from the post, the elbow or a handoff at the top of the key rather than from the perimeter. Opponents know the pass is coming and still cannot stop it, because Jokic reads the defence a beat faster than it can react. That combination of size, vision and touch is what has made the triple-double, once a guard's statistic, a centre's weapon in Denver.
The NBA marked the moment on social media, writing: "Congrats to Nikola Jokic of the Nuggets for becoming the second player to reach 200 triple-doubles!" The league's post added the scoreboard in shorthand: "Joker: 200, Russ: 209", alongside a note that the milestone arrived on the 11th anniversary of Jokic's NBA debut.
Reporting around the game underlined the same point: Jokic is now second only to Westbrook, and with ten triple-doubles to go, the record is in sight. Analysts covering the Nuggets noted that Denver's only two wins this season have both come against New Orleans, and both have featured a Jokic triple-double, a reminder of how closely the team's fortunes track its star centre's all-round production.
There was also a quieter subplot in the box score. DeRozan, despite shooting just 1 of 6 from the floor, provided key contributions down the stretch, finishing with five assists and two steals, including the pass that set up Braun's second late three-pointer. It was the kind of unglamorous contribution that wins close games, even on a night owned by a historic individual milestone.
For Denver, the win matters almost as much as the milestone. The Nuggets entered the game with several injuries and used just nine players. They played without Cam Johnson, who has an ankle injury, and Alpha Diallo, who has a sprained wrist, and continued to be without Julian Strawther and Spencer Jones. Winning on the road, wire to wire, with a short rotation, is exactly the kind of result that steadies a 2-2 start.
For the wider league, the countdown to 209 is now one of the season's defining storylines. Every Jokic triple-double from here on will be counted against Westbrook's total, and the night he passes it will be a landmark moment in NBA history. For a player who has already won three MVP awards and a championship, the all-time triple-double record would add a different kind of permanence: a number that could stand for years.
For New Orleans, the loss deepens an already difficult start. The Pelicans are 0-4 under first-year coach Jamahl Mosley, and while Williamson's 25 points showed his individual quality, the team's 23.3 percent three-point shooting and slow starts in both games against Denver have left them searching for answers. Their next chance to reset comes quickly, at home against Sacramento on Thursday night.
Denver's next game takes the milestone chase on the road again. The Nuggets visit Phoenix on Friday night in an NBA Cup group-stage opener, where Jokic will have his first chance to move to 201. If his early-season pattern holds, and his triple-doubles keep arriving in bunches, the record could fall before the calendar turns to a new year.
The Pelicans, meanwhile, host Sacramento on Thursday night, looking for a first win and a steadier start. New Orleans has now lost twice to Denver in five days, once after leading by 23 points and once after trailing by 22, and finding consistency at both ends will be the priority for Mosley and his staff.
For Jokic, the next ten triple-doubles will be watched more closely than most. Westbrook's 209 stood as the high-water mark of all-round production in the modern game. Jokic, at 31 and still in his prime, is now ten away from owning it outright.
Jokic has 200 career regular-season triple-doubles after his 21-point, 13-rebound, 10-assist performance in Denver's 104-91 win at New Orleans on October 28, 2026.
Russell Westbrook holds the record with 209 career regular-season triple-doubles. Jokic, with 200, needs ten more to pass him. Oscar Robertson is third with 181.
Jokic finished with 21 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists on 8-of-13 shooting from the field. It was his second triple-double of the season, and both have come against New Orleans.
Denver won 104-91 in New Orleans on Wednesday, October 28, 2026. The Nuggets never trailed, led 37-18 after the first quarter, and were led by Jamal Murray's 23 points. Zion Williamson scored 25 points for the Pelicans.
Jokic needs ten more triple-doubles. After recording 34 last season, he could pass Westbrook at some point during the 2026-27 campaign if he maintains anything close to that pace.
Related coverage: Stephen Curry drops 44 points as Warriors hold off Timberwolves 119-114 and Thunder injuries: Jalen Williams and Cason Wallace face surgery after win.
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