56 points, 16 rebounds, and 15 assists.

No player in NBA history, let alone on Christmas Day, has ever posted numbers like these–until Nikola Jokic on December 25, 2025.

The three-time NBA Most Valuable Player put on what could go down as the greatest single-game performance in Christmas Day history as he led the Denver Nuggets to a thrilling 142-138 overtime win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Jokic was far from stat-padding in this game and had to step up to deliver the Nuggets a victory. Denver was without both of their starting forwards, Aaron Gordon and Cam Johnson, who are currently dealing with injuries. 

The 6’11 more than made up for their absence and wound up etching his name in the history books yet again. He scored 18 of his 56 points in the extra period, eclipsing Stephen Curry’s overtime scoring record of 17 which he set back in 2016. 

The 56 points that Jokic scored are the third highest of all time on Christmas, behind only Bernard King (60, 1984) and Wilt Chamberlain (59, 1961). Neither of them put up a triple double, though Chamberlain did have 36 rebounds to complement his 59 points.

He also became the third player in league history to have multiple triple double efforts on Christmas Day, joining Oscar Robertson and Russell Westbrook. However, Jokic’s mind-boggling performance stands alone as the only 50-point triple double on Christmas ever.

The 30-year-old center seems to be fond of these Timberwolves as the two best games of his career have come against this team, both in 2025. This Christmas Day spectacle would have marked a career-high in scoring for Jokic had he not had a 61-point triple double last April 1 against Minnesota as well. The budding rivalry between these two Western Conference teams has produced some of the finest moments of this decade and should continue doing so for the foreseeable future.

Performances like this from Jokic are no longer statistical anomalies and have made it clear that there is no one quite like him in the world today. Jokic not only carried the Nuggets to a signature victory to cap off the Christmas Day slate, he used the national platform to remind the league that they are still very much a team to be reckoned with.

When the brightest lights are on, Jokic continues to prove—time and time again—that he is the undisputed best player in the world, and as long as he performs at this level, the Nuggets’ championship window remains wide open.