full image - Repost: If you're not watching the NBA, Nicola Jokic is shredding toxic masculinity and the male gaze in professional basketball. The league and sports media are losing their minds. It's glorious. (from Reddit.com, If you're not watching the NBA, Nicola Jokic is shredding toxic masculinity and the male gaze in professional basketball. The league and sports media are losing their minds. It's glorious.)
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"The first act of violence that patriarchy demands of males is not violence toward women. Instead patriarchy demands of all males that they engage in acts of psychic self-mutilation, that they kill off the emotional parts of themselves. If an individual is not successful in emotionally crippling himself, he can count on patriarchal men to enact rituals of power that will assault his self-esteem."– Bell Hooks, The Will To Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love, 200410 years ago, the Denver Nuggets drafted a 7 ft tall, unknown center from Serbia in the second round. It wasn't even shown on tv; the network was busy running a Taco Bell ad.Jokic is fast, one of the strongest players in the league, and one of the best conditioned. He plays at a mile high altitude (18% less oxygen than sea level), and after every single game he plays, he goes back to the weight room with a trainer and lifts weights and does cardio for another two hours. He is also one of the most supremely skilled centers in history in terms of footwork, touch on the ball, making shots, and circus-style passes to teammates that absolutely defy belief.But he doesn't fit the male gaze aesthetic box: he doesn't have a lot of definition in his arm muscles. He doesn't have a six pack. His arms flop and he shuffles when he runs. He looks nothing like a Michael Jordan or Lebron James, who play with flash and swagger and look and play like they just came out of a Marvel Movie. Stephen A Smith, a top sports commentator on ESPN, once famously called Nicola Jokic "A fat tub of lard who can't jump over a curb." He also got a reputation for "not caring" about basketball. He doesn't mean mug, flex, dance or celebrate after big plays. He very, very rarely talks shit, and when he does, it's wholesome and polite. He gives credit where credit is due in a calm and passive voice during interviews. And he refuses to play Hero Ball. The Nuggets are known for playing unselfish team ball, led by Jokic. He could be scoring 40 to 50 points a game, but instead leads the league in assists, passing the ball to teammates who are shooting hot or in better positions to score. His teammates (with the exception of maybe Jamal Murray, who can be a selfish shithead and often is) have embraced Jokic's ethics, selflessness, and philosophies behind team ball. Aaron Gordon, who was drafted to be a #1 star in Orlando and was traded to the Nuggets a couple years ago, has embraced Jokic' style of play and humility, even though he's often the third or fourth best player on the team. This interview the other day was really amazing.In an age of American anti-intellectualism, Jokic is a robot brain who dissects strategy and positioning and plays chess when everyone plays checkers.Even off the court, Jokic refuses to buy into the male gaze/toxic masculinity trappings. He has a nice house, but doesn't drive a flashy car or wear flashy clothes. He married his high school sweetheart, is the dad to a toddler daughter, and is fiercely devoted to them. You never see him living the high life, clubbing, or trying to be cool on TV. At most someone will snap a candid photo of him out at a dinosaur exhibit, with his daughter on his shoulders. Despite his refusal to play the superstar game, Jokic has been wiping the floor with the rest of the NBA. He won MVP in 2021 and 2022. In 2023, sports commentators started pushing Joel Embiid to win over Jokic. Embiid is tall, strong, aggressive to the point of violence on the court, has a lot of swagger and ego. In other words, more of the masculine hero aesthetic and personality men want to see and emulate. Embiid flailed out of the playoffs early. Jokic and the Nuggets went on a tear, destroyed the playoffs, won their first championship, and Jokic won Finals MVP.In a hilarious and famous interview after winning his first championship, instead of basking in the glory and the limelight and crowing about his accomplishments, Jokic was sad to find out he'd have to stay for a parade a few days later because it would keep him away from his beloved horses waiting for him on his farm in Serbia.After experiencing Denver's joy and pride, Jokic was touched by the fan support during the parade and has loosened up a bit this year with the media. He also started doing a couple commercials. Not the cereal box and warrior-coded commercials. But goofy ones with a young teammate and a pony, and this recent hysterical one for Dispicable Me 4 (when this dropped during the playoffs, Jokic rolled up to the arena dressed as Gru).The NBA brass and sports media have been beside themselves trying to push any flashy star besides Jokic and any other team than the Nuggets. Despite the Nuggets continuing to dominate in play, sports media rarely mentioned them and continued to try to push a lackluster, 10th place Lakers with Lebron James and Anthony Davis, who are much more likely to look good on a lunchbox. Strangely, the Nugget's scheduling had more exhausting back to back next day games by far than any other team in the league. Despite being a leading player in the league, referees refused to call fouls in Jokic' favor at the same rate as the other stars, or even mundane players, despite the fact that every game Jokic would sport multiple visible nail scratches covering his arms, sometimes to the point of bleeding. It didn't matter. The Nuggets still swept the Los Angeles Lakers 12 games in a row, and the Boston Celtics. They tied for most wins in their division. And once again, Jokic won league MVP. The league and media institution were so sour that the "boring," "lazy," "fat" European won again, Shaqueel O'Neil opened up the awards presentation by telling Jokic to his face that another player should have won. The Nuggets are currently in the second round of the playoffs. They were low energy and not great the first two games, dropping to a young and hungry Minnesota team with a 22 year old phenom named Anthony Edwards, who the media spent a week splashing across their screens and calling him the next Michael Jordan. The Nuggets and Jokic woke up and have won the last three games in absolutely embarrassing fashion. Last night, after accepting the MVP trophy at his home arena, Jokich played one of the most dominant solo games in the history of the NBA, absolutely wrecking an asshole 4 time defensive player of the year in Rudy Gobert like the dude wasn't even there. At this point, the opposing team, and the media, are shrugging their shoulders and begrugingly admitting there's nothing they can do. This guy is one of the best players in history, and nobody is going to be able to stop him. Jokic's only acknowledgement in the press conference was a dry, deadpan, self deprecating admission that he's a freak of nature.So if you're bored and want to watch a bunch of dudes subvert patriarchal expectations of what athletic men are supposed to be, Nuggets playoffs basketball is pretty fucking fun to watch. And they're dragging the NBA into prioritizing team play and humility over stars and aesthetics , whether they like it or not. The needle on what we should idolize in this country is moving.
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