Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets continues to show why he's the best big man the NBA. Furthermore, he continues to show why he's the 2020-21 NBA MVP. Ask Jamal Murray.

The latest piece of evidence comes from the last two months.

Jamal Murray is one of the best guards in the NBA. He's an electric scorer who's money in the clutch and has gone mayhem in each of the last two postseasons for the Nuggets. Unfortunately for Murray, he tore his ACL in an April 12 matchup against the Golden State Warriors, a blow for his career, the Nuggets and sport as a whole.

As for its impact on the Nuggets and Nikola Jokic, it was fair to expect them to take a step back without the dynamic guard. Instead, they haven't skipped a beat. Denver went 13-5 in the regular season after Murray's injury, and they lead the Portland Trail Blazers 2-1 in their first-round playoff matchup.

The Joker has led the charge and been historically absurd.

Nikola Jokic averaged an astonishing 26.4 points, 10.8 rebounds, 8.3 assists and 1.3 steals per game while shooting 38.8 percent from beyond the arc in the regular season. His production has gone to another level in the postseason, as Jokic is averaging 36.0 points, 11.7 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game while shooting 50.0 percent from beyond the arc across the Nuggets' first three games. Not too shabby.

As hilarious as the stat lines have been for Nikola Jokic, they're not even the main reason for why his play warrants eccentric praise; it's the impact of his play.

How many centers in NBA history have been both the focal point of an offense and brought the ball up the floor/set up their teammates at a high level? Nikola Jokic literally produces at the level of Russell Westbrook while dominating inside and draining off-balanced jump shots over defenders with ease.

Jokic does everything well. He's an efficient shooter from the field, beyond the arc and the charity stripe. Nikola Jokic has crafty inside moves, can post up, finds his teammates in their hot spots, rebounds well and defends at a high level. He has been as productive and impactful with Murray sidelined.

The pair of homegrown players feed off and help each other. They prevent teams from being able to squarely focus on stopping one player. With Murray out for the season, it seemed feasible for both Nikola Jokic to be slowed down given his importance to the Nuggets offense and head coach Mike Malone's team as a whole to fall down the Western Conference ranks. On the contrary, neither has taken place.

Nikola Jokic is garnering the bulk of defenses' attention, and he and those around him are thriving. Michael Porter Jr. continues to blossom into a go-to scorer. Midseason pickup Aaron Gordon has played well on both ends of the floor. Facundo Campazzo has been gritty in his increased role. Austin Rivers has been superb over the last two weeks with the ball in his hands.

The Nuggets play in the Western Conference. In other words, they take part in the opening fight scene of The Hunger Games on a yearly basis. A contender has zero margin for error in the conference which includes performance and injury. Most, if not all teams' seasons would end with a significant injury.

Not only have the Nuggets been a well-oiled machine without Murray: they've been without Will Barton for a month. Nikola Jokic knows this. He also knows that Monte Morris has been in and out of the rotation over the last two months. This unit is going up against a Trail Blazers team that includes the likes of the ever-confident Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum and Carmelo Anthony.

Nikola Jokic is the most impactful big man in the NBA.

In no way is the aforementioned notion a knock on other elite players like Anthony Davis or Joel Embiid. Both big men are formidable forces who serve as franchise players that teams struggle mightily to gameplan for. What's separating Nikola Jokic from every other big man in the NBA is that he's the only one running an offense. Davis and Embiid are also operating with another star or highly impactful player by their side (LeBron James and Ben Simmons).

Nikola Jokic is without his robin so to speak in Murray, and his game has barely, if at all suffered. It has only expanded, which makes no sense given that teams can solely focus on shutting him down.

The top five ranking of NBA players is a subjective and ever-updating list. With that being said, how is the Joker not in that bunching of players? He is as productive and impactful as any player in the sport and takes his game to the next level/adds a new dimension to his game every season. He's 26 years old, merely scratching the surface of his prime and grows more dominant with every passing game.

Nikola Jokic is the best big man in the NBA and the MVP of the season. His campaign has been a sight to behold.