Disrespect is nothing new for Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets.

After all, in case you forgot, Jokic — the two-time MVP who just added Western Conference finals MVP accolade to his resume — was drafted during a Taco Bell commercial.

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Obviously no one knew at the time that Jokic, who was selected as a complete unknown by the Nuggets with the 41st pick, would instead end up being the face of the franchise.

For Jokic and Denver though, it was just a brief glimpse of what was to come. Just another example of what Nuggets fans had already known for so long. For 47 years really.

But last Tuesday Denver made history, reaching the NBA Finals for the first time after sweeping away the Los Angeles Lakers — and some of those 47 years of disrespect in the process.

That disrespect though, the chip-on-their-shoulder attitude that coach Michael Malone has instilled in this team, is a big part of why the Nuggets are in this position in the first place.

And it starts with Jokic, because even if it took the rest of the basketball world much longer to take notice, Malone always knew.

He always knew the true genius of Jokic’s game. He always appreciated the Serbian superstar for what he was and not what he wasn’t. Most importantly, he always knew Jokic was capable of taking the Nuggets all the way.

Now they are just four wins away from lifting the Larry O’Brien championship trophy.

“For me, he hasn’t proven anything,” Malone said recently when asked what Jokic had proven in the Western Conference Finals.

“And why do I say that? Because I already know he’s a great player.”

It is not like that is a matter of opinion anyway. The numbers back it up too.

They tell you that Jokic is averaging 29.9 points, 13.3 rebounds, 10.3 assists in these playoffs. Even the history books tell you he is the first player to average a triple-double through the first 15 games of the postseason.

But you don’t even need the advanced statistics to tell you that Jokic has been the best player in the playoffs and was one of the best in the regular season. You just need to watch him.

The way he and Jamal Murray have mastered the art of the pick-and-roll. The open 3-pointers for sharpshooters like Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, a result of Jokic’s gravitational pull.

According to the NBA’s official website, Denver had an offensive rating of 124.2 with Jokic on the court during the regular season. That dropped to 103.1 with the two-time MVP on the bench.

In the playoffs the numbers tell a similar story, with an offensive rating of 123.1 with Jokic on the court and 101.1 with him off it.

Although, in what could be seen as yet another example of the disrespect facing Jokic and the Nuggets, ESPN sideline reporter Lisa Salters admitted before Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals that she hadn’t even watched the two-time MVP in person.

“This is really the first time I’ve had a chance to watch him play, and I’ve got to admit, I have been sleeping on this guy,” Salters said on ‘The Rich Eisen Show’.

“He is spectacular. He is ridiculously good.”

Salters went on to explain that it had been 10 years since she had worked a game in Denver, which makes what she said easier to place into context but still just as revealing.

Out of sight, out of mind. This is a small-market team that has long been ignored by national media, even if it was this season led by the reigning two-time MVP of the league.

Again, that is nothing new for these Nuggets, as Michael Porter Jr. said earlier this month.

“I mean, I think that’s probably how it is with most small-market teams,” he said.

“And in this stage, it’s just so different. This is a huge stage. A lot of people are probably watching these games that don’t normally watch the NBA.

“… We’ve got a lot of dudes who aren’t really big into the social media thing or feeding into that, which I think that plays to our advantage being the type of small-market team that we are. I don’t think we mind that at all.”

At some point though it does have to get tiring, being told that no matter how good your basketball is, you are “just not a compelling team to talk about or write about”.

That instead of focusing on how the Nuggets won, it is about how the Lakers lost. Or how in the aftermath of Game 1, so much of the talk was about the adjustments L.A. made to spark a near-comeback win.

“Even if you remember, even in the bubble when we beat Utah, they were talking about how they blew the lead,” Jokic said last week, giving another example.

“When we beat the Clippers, how they blew the lead. Nobody talking about how we won the game. It’s normal for us. To be honest, I don’t pay attention at all.”

Coach Malone does though.

“You win Game 1 and all everybody talked about was the Lakers,” he said before Game 2.

“Let’s be honest, that was the national narrative, ‘Hey, the Lakers are fine. They’re down 1-0 but they figured something out’. No one talked about Nikola who just had a historic performance.

“What he’s doing is just incredible. But the narrative wasn’t about the Nuggets, the narrative wasn’t about Nikola. The narrative was about the Lakers and their adjustments.

“You put that in your pipe, you smoke it and you come back and you know what… we’re going to go up 2-0.”

Then Denver went up 3-0. And later 4-0 up, eliminating the Lakers and leaving the national media without much of a choice but to focus on these Nuggets.

Well, that is once all the talk about LeBron James and the interest in his potential retirement dried up.

But that’s the thing. As critical as Malone has been about the national narrative this post-season, it’s not like it’s unexpected or anything new.

LeBron and the Lakers were always going to be the focus of this series. The same goes for the Phoenix Suns, who made a move for Kevin Durant before the trade deadline in a bid to win it all.

That didn’t happen. So, naturally, conversation was going to be dominated by what the loss meant for Phoenix’s superstar core of Durant, Devin Booker and Chris Paul.

“The outside noise is the outside noise,” Murray said earlier in the month.

“We’re the Denver Nuggets, we’re used to that. Even when we win, they talk about the other team.

“Same old, same old. It fuels us a little more and will be sweeter when we win the chip.”

Even sweeter considering Denver was widely-expected to be found out in the semi-finals when it faced off against the conference favourites Phoenix.

That was despite the Suns’ new-look trio having little time on the court together.

The Nuggets, on the other hand, were a dominant force for the most of the regular season and had hardly missed a beat in a 4-1 series win over the Timberwolves.

“Nobody watches us. That’s why,” replied Bruce Brown when asked why Denver had been doubted in that series against Phoenix.

That’s about to change and in a big way. After all, mountain time zone tip-offs aren’t exactly convenient for audiences on the East Coast.

From Friday [AEST] though, real basketball fans won’t have any excuse not to be watching these Nuggets and seeing what Malone has known for so long.

If you don’t want to take his word for it, how about listening to one of the best players the NBA has ever seen.

“Me and AD (Anthony Davis) were just talking in the locker room for a little bit,” Lakers superstar James said after the Game 4 loss to the Nuggets.

“We came to the consensus, this is one of the best teams, if not the best team, we’ve played together for all four years. Just well orchestrated, well put together.

“They have scoring. They have shooting. They have playmaking. They have smarts. They have length. They have depth.”

LeBron is right. As much as Jokic dominates the headlines as a two-time MVP, there are so many reasons for this team’s success this year.

Starting with Murray, who has formed a lethal combination with Jokic this season to produce one of the most unstoppable two-man games in the league.

And if you want some more Nuggets history, Murray became the first player to finish a best-of-seven series sweep with a 50-40-90 shooting split.

Then you add in Porter Jr., Denver’s biggest X-factor player for the Finals, whose maturation as a player has given Malone more flexibility with his rotations in the post-season.

Aaron Gordon, meanwhile, is one of the league’s more underrated success stories this season and gives the Nuggets a hard edge on both ends of the floor.

Then you add in Caldwell-Pope’s shot-making and disruptive defence, Bruce Brown’s consistent bench production, Jeff Green’s veteran presence and even Christian Braun’s youthful energy.

Braun didn’t get minutes in the final game of the series against the Lakers and is still a work in progress but the way he throws his body at rebounds is just one example of the win-at-all-costs mentality he offers this group.

This is a complete team that is ready to take home the title. They could also enter the history books in the process, with a chance to become just the second NBA team in the last 16 seasons to have a record of 16-4 or better in the playoffs.

“The Nuggets are a juggernaut,” Harrison Wind said on the DNVR Denver Nuggets Podcast.

“There were a juggernaut during the regular season and have been in the playoffs but no one looks at them like that because it says Nuggets on their jersey.

“But doing that would be the ultimate stamp on the perfect season … number one seed in the West, cruising through the playoffs … I think it would put a nice bow on the season.”

A season that has been dominant and impressive in so many different ways. A season that deserves to be remembered that way.

NBA FINALS SCHEDULE (Times in AEST)

Game 1: June 2 at Denver, 10.30am

Game 2: June 5 at Denver, 10am

Game 3: June 8 at Miami, 10.30am

Game 4: June 10 at Miami, 10.30am

Game 5: June 13 at Denver, 10.30am (if necessary)

Game 6: June 16 at Miami, 10.30am (if necessary)

Game 7: June 19 at Denver, 10am (if necessary)