OKLAHOMA CITY — Now much more than the most unstoppable player on the court, Nikola Jokic has become the best coach in the building.

And to tell you the truth, I’m not sure the NBA is ready for this: Jokic the great and powerful oracle, imparting wisdom from the basketball gods.

Just when you thought there was no new way to describe the greatness of the league’s real MVP, he walked away from Denver’s shocking playoff victory against Oklahoma City with a Joker Hat Trick: 42 points, 22 rebounds and a rage timeout.

“I don’t think it’s rage, actually,” Nuggets coach David Adelman said Tuesday. “I think it’s expressive, opinionated, offensive and defensive scheme-wise, trying to get his point across.”

For nearly a decade, the most identifiable trait of Michael Malone’s successful coaching stint in Denver was the rage timeout. When the Nuggets were in a funk, Malone would leap from the bench, ready to eat glass and spit out the shards.

Now that Malone is no longer employed by the team, Jokic has added a new dimension to his game. Before he led the Nuggets from down by 14 points to an improbable 121-119 victory against the Thunder in the series opener, Charles Barkley and the “Inside the NBA” crew duly noted how Joker has begun roaring like a lion during timeouts.

“Joker is coaching right now,” Barkley said. “He’s taking control of that team.”

During a break in the action in the early stages of these playoffs, we’ve spied Jokic dancing and growling like a Serbian bear in front of the Denver bench, while wildly gesticulating in the faces of teammates.

The reaction from Denver’s interim coach?

“More of it,” Adelman said. “Please.”

In the heat of the moment, how well do X’s and O’s translate from Serbian to English?

Jokic “has the best mind on our bench so when he talks, people listen. That’s who he is. He wants to win,” Nuggets guard Christian Braun said.

“So when he’s yelling and telling you things, a lot of times it’s hard to understand. But he means it, he’s passionate about it.”

In the Rocky Mountain region, we understand Jokic has a way of undressing his critics with the same precision he can make a defender look foolish.

With every new rage timeout, the lazy accusation that Denver’s center is not passionate about basketball is quickly being revealed as ridiculous as the old, tired stereotype that Jokic is an unathletic tub of goo.

He has never been afraid to impart basketball wisdom to the Nuggets. The difference is Jokic now seems much more comfortable making a public display of his intense teaching moments with teammates.

And at age 30, maybe this is nothing more than the natural evolution of a man who has won a championship, claimed three MVP awards and become a father of two.

The maturation of Jokic is like the transformation of “a young kid to a dad,” said Nuggets guard Jamal Murray.

Instead of serving as the brains of the entire operation, Jokic has taken his game to yet another level by helping the Nuggets think more for themselves.

And in the pressure cooker of the playoffs, mental mistakes can be as costly as physical missteps.

After Jokic pulled the Nuggets to within 117-116 by hitting two free throws with a scant 12.2 seconds remaining on the clock late in Game 1, Adelman removed him from the game during a Thunder timeout. The reasoning? Denver had no choice except to foul on the defensive end, and Jokic was one referee’s whistle away from fouling out.

Oklahoma City, however, ran a perfect inbounds play, leaving the Nuggets flat-footed as guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander flew unimpeded to the rim for a dunk that put the Thunder ahead 119-116.

Worse, Jokic was stuck standing on the Denver sideline, with no way to get back in the game, as Adelman had already burned his final timeout.

“I second-guess myself, if I take Nikola out with no timeouts,” Adelman said. “Believe me, when I watch the film, I’m my biggest critic.”

So I asked him: Was it one of those “Oh, bleep” moments that can haunt a coach’s dreams?

“Of course,” Adelman replied. “But if you have that moment and you can’t handle it, you shouldn’t have this job.”

The Thunder, however, let Adelman and the Nuggets off the hook by playing it by the book.

As soon as Denver inbounded the ball, forward Aaron Gordon was instantly and inexplicably fouled intentionally by Alex Caruso, because that’s what the Thunder’s best defender was instructed to do with Oklahoma City ahead by three points.

“Fouling up three, that’s on me,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said.

With the clock stopped and Gordon at the free-throw line, it gave Adelman a second chance to get Jokic back on the floor to help complete what will go down in Nuggets lore as one of the craziest comebacks in franchise history.

It might require Joker averaging a 40-point triple double for Denver to win this best-of-seven series.

But the only thing dumber than to doubt Jokic is to bet against him.

Sorry, Mr. Gilgeous-Alexander.

You’re going to be awarded the MVP for this season, but Joker is the best player in this series.

And this might be hard for you to accept, Mr. Daigneault.

You were certainly worthy of being named the NBA Coach of the Year in 2024.

But if you think you can out-think the most beautiful mind in the sport, this Joker’s on you.