Nikola Jokic is the reigning NBA MVP having won the award now in back to back seasons, and on Sunday he added to his legacy with a monster game in the Denver Nuggets 119-115 win against the Charlotte Hornets. Jokic's stat line of 40 points, 27 rebounds and ten assists made him the first player to put up a triple-double of at least 35 points, 25 rebounds and ten assists since Wilt Chamberlain in 1968 as per the Twitter page StatMuse.

When Wilt Chamberlain put up those numbers, he had 53 points, 32 rebounds and 14 assists.

With his recent play, Nikola Jokic is making a strong case for his third straight MVP award. Coming into Sunday's game, Jokic was putting up 24.6 points per game, 10.3 rebounds and 9.0 assists while shooting 62.9 percent from the field. He's shooting 30.6 percent from the three-point line, but Jokic has always been a fairly reliable three-point shooter with a career mark of 34.4 percent. Jokic is also averaging a career-high 6.6 attempts from the free-throw line and knocking them down at an 81.2 percent clip.

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Sunday's game was Jokic's second 40 point game of the season and the second in the last five days. He's had ten games now of double-figures in assists.

Behind Jokic's monster effort, the Nuggets improved to 18-11 and pulled to within a tie of the New Orleans Pelicans for the second seed in the Western Conference standings. The Pelicans currently hold the tie-breaker, however, due to their 1-0 record against the Nuggets in their head-to-head season series. The Nuggets are also now only one game back of the Memphis Grizzlies for the No. 1 seed.