Jokic wraps up triple-double average for season, 3rd NBA player to achieve that feat

DENVER (AP) — Nikola Jokic will average a triple-double for the season, making the Denver star the third player in NBA history to pull off such a feat.

It became statistically certain Friday night when Jokic got his fourth assist of Denver’s game against the Memphis Grizzlies. That assist was his 700th of the season, assuring him of averaging no worse than 10.0 assists for 70 games. He'll

The other players to average a triple-double for a full season: Russell Westbrook, Jokic’s current Denver teammate, and Basketball Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson.

Westbrook did it four times — 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 for Oklahoma City, as well as in 2020-21 for Washington — and Robertson did it in the 1961-62 season for Cincinnati.

“It's nice. I didn't do that before,” Jokic said postgame when asked about averaging a triple-double. “I don't know. I don't know what to say. It's good.”

The assist that clinched it for Jokic came on a score by Christian Braun with about 52 seconds left in the first half. It was not originally credited; the boxscore was updated at halftime. Jokic wound up getting a triple-double for the game as well, his 34th of the season. He had 26 points, 16 rebounds and 12 assists in Denver's 117-109 victory.

Jokic — the Serbian star who has won three of the last four NBA MVP awards and is a top candidate for that honor again this season along with Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — has more triple-doubles this season than any other three players in the league combined. No other NBA player else entered Friday with more than 10 this season.

“If he doesn’t win the MVP it’s the greatest season of all time not to win it,” ,” interim coach David Adelman said.

This will be the first time Jokic averages double digits in assists. His previous career best was 2022-23, when he finished with 9.8 assists along with 24.5 points and 11.8 rebounds.

“When you have a guy like Jokic, who creates so much offense for his teammates, everyone’s going to have really good looks if you don’t do the right things,” Minnesota coach Chris Finch said earlier this month.

Jokic has also assured of finishing this season averaging a career-best in scoring and will likely end up with the second-best rebound average of his career as well. He’ll also set career-bests this season in 3-pointers made and 3-point percentage.

Jokic needed 73 points in the season’s final two games — against the Grizzlies on Friday and the finale at Houston on Sunday — to push his scoring average to 30.0 for the season. If that happens, it would be the third 30-point triple-double average in NBA history; Westbrook and Robertson both did that once.

Jokic has 164 regular-season triple-doubles for his career, second-most in NBA history behind Westbrook’s 203. Jokic is the second player in NBA history to have at least 30 triple-doubles in a season; the other is Westbrook, who has pulled that feat off three times.

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Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic warms up before an NBA basketball game against the Sacramento Kings, Wednesday, April 9, 2025, in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Sara Nevis)

Memphis Grizzlies forward Jaren Jackson Jr., right, drives to the basket as Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, left, defends in the first half of an NBA basketball game Friday, April 11, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Denver Nuggets guard Russell Westbrook, left, jokes with center Nikola Jokic, right, before an NBA basketball game against the Memphis Grizzlies, Friday, April 11, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

PARIS (AP) — A Paris court is to rule on Monday in a case involving 10 people accused of cyberbullying French first lady Brigitte Macron by spreading false online claims about her gender and sexuality, allegations her daughter said damaged her health and family life.

The defendants, eight men and two women aged 41 to 60, are accused of posting “numerous malicious comments” falsely claiming that President Emmanuel Macron ’s wife was born a man and linking the 24-year age gap with her husband to pedophilia. Some of the posts were viewed tens of thousands of times.

Brigitte Macron did not attend the two-day trial in October.

Her daughter, Tiphaine Auzière, testified about what she described as the “deterioration” of her mother’s life since the online harassment intensified. “She cannot ignore the horrible things said about her,” Auzière told the court. She said the impact has extended to the entire family, including Macron’s grandchildren.

Defendant Delphine Jegousse, 51, who is known as Amandine Roy and describes herself as a medium and an author, is considered as having played a major role in spreading the rumor after she released a four-hour video on her YouTube channel in 2021.

The X account of Aurélien Poirson-Atlan, 41, known as Zoé Sagan on social media, was suspended in 2024 after his name was cited in several judicial investigations.

Other defendants include an elected official, a teacher and a computer scientist. Several told the court their comments were intended as humor or satire and said they did not understand why they were being prosecuted. They face up to two years in prison if convicted.

The case follows years of conspiracy theories falsely alleging that Brigitte Macron was born under the name Jean-Michel Trogneux, which is actually the name of her brother. The Macrons have also filed a defamation suit in the United States against conservative influencer Candace Owens.

The Macrons, who have been married since 2007, first met at the high school where he was a student and she was a teacher. Brigitte Macron, 24 years her husband’s senior, was then called Brigitte Auzière, a married mother of three.

Emmanuel Macron, 48, has been France’s president since 2017.

FILE - French President's wife Brigitte Macron arrives ahead of the ceremony outside "La Belle Equipe" bar, Thursday Nov. 13, 2025 in Paris as part of ceremonies marking the 10th anniversary of terrorist attacks. (Ludovic Marin, Pool photo via AP, File)