The Denver Nuggets’ home opener against the Sacramento Kings was supposed to be an introduction to the team Nuggets fans could expect to see in future games. Given the current roster, fans expected to see a version of the fast-paced, sharpshooting squad that has made Denver so entertaining over the last few seasons, with center Nikola Jokic acting as a field general, alternating the team’s Warriors-lite approach with a bully-ball post offense that ranks among the most efficient in the league.

Instead, fans witnessed a defensive display so ugly, imposing, and efficient, it was reminiscent of the architecture of Jokic’s native Serbia. While it was nice to see the team clicking on defense (even against a bottom-feeder like the Kings coming off a back-to-back), the Nuggets’ offense was equally ugly. The team’s shooters hurled more bricks than a WTO protestor, and their pinballing pass patterns hardly ever seemed to create much space or open any lanes. At the center of this, too, was Jokic, who put up only three shots in the game, missing all of them.

I was at the game, so I can say with authority that Jokic’s lack of interest in scoring was visible from the 300 section. Much less apparent, however, his reason for doing so. Willie Cauley-Stein isn’t that good on D, and Jokic wasn’t even drawing double teams by the end, so his non-shooting looks like a deliberate choice, or at least the result of off-the-court factors.

In an attempt to get to the bottom of this without doing any actual reporting, I thought about all the reasons Jokic may have scored zero points, and then ranked them in order of how much I hope they are true. So the first few are possible reasons where it would be good for Jokic and the Nuggets if they are true, and the last few would be disastrous for both the team and the player. The reasons in the middle probably won’t make much of a difference either way.

1. Jokic Was Making a Point About Teamwork

We know that Mike Malone is a defensive-minded coach who’s voiced his concerns about the Nuggets’ tendency to simply outshoot opponents rather than playing hard on both ends. It’s not outside the realm of possibility that Jokic focused his play on passing, rebounding, and defense to send a message to his teammates about the value of Malone’s preferred approach. Jokic doesn’t have the outspoken qualities of a natural leader, but maybe he’s learning to lead by example.

Likelihood: The best defense for this explanation is Jokic’s stat line: in addition to getting 7 assists and 9 rebounds, Jokic had the highest plus-minus of any player on either team, posting a +21 in his 30 minutes on the court. He arguably contributed more to the Nuggets’ 17-point win than any other player simply by being willing to facilitate. On the other hand, if Jokic meant this game to be a statement, I’d expect more of…well, a statement, rather than him just shrugging it off.

2. Jokic Did Not Respect the Kings Enough to Bother Scoring on Them

Jokic is expected to be one of the Nuggets’ leading scorers this year, and yet, without him contributing a single point, they still beat the Kings by 17. It’s possible that Jokic saw the Kings’ roster and decided that he would not grant Willy Cauley-Stein or Kostas Koufos the privilege of being scored on by him. This would be a major flex move, akin to a movie villain sending his henchmen out to kill someone beneath the villain’s notice. Overall, I would prefer a Duncanesque team-first Jokic to a supervillain Jokic, but either one is an exciting development for the Nuggets as an organization.

Likelihood: Jokic doesn’t seem like the type of player with supervillain DNA. His default expression can best be described as "placid." But there’s a non-zero chance that he is the basketball equivalent of Elijah Wood’s character from Sin City, and that the half-bored expression he has while surveying an opposing defense is the same one he will have when he amputates your hand and forces you to watch while he eats it.

3. Solidarity with Kostas Koufos, Vlade Divac, or Both

If there’s one part of Jokic’s history that I think we’re overlooking, it’s his recent decision to not play for the Serbian national team in Eurobasket, the biannual pan-European basketball tournament that is a Big Deal to European basketball fans. Jokic skipped the tournament, Serbia lost to Slovenia in the final, and Serbian basketball fans spent their summer calling Jokic a traitor, even on this blog. I think we underestimate how trying this might be for him, as he still has strong ties to his home country.

So if he might act from his emotions a little when playing the team managed by Divac, the most successful Serbian to ever play in the NBA, could you blame him? If he wanted to take it a little easy on Koufos, another talented center who also failed to show up for his Eurobasket squad, wouldn’t that be the most understandably human reaction to have? It would be, but it’s also a little more sympathetic and humane than I’d want a star basketball player to be.

Likelihood: This is on the other end of the morality spectrum from Elijah-Wood-in-Sin-City Jokic, and probably about as likely. Jokic doesn’t really seem to let emotion get in the way of his game one way or another, unless a player has just robbed him of an offensive rebound.

4. Jokic is Homesick

Notice how as we go to less and less desirable possibilities, Jokic less and less resembles an international basketball star, and more and more resembles me during my semester abroad? Anyway, the only reason I’m including this is because a few reporters noticed that Jokic’s locker includes a ribbon that his horse, Dreamcatcher, won in a race over the summer. It’s understandable that he might miss hanging out in Sombor, racing horses and eating his favorite foods. But it would also be a minor concern, easily dispatched by the thought of how many racehorses he could buy on an NBA max salary, especially if this clip from the documentary EuroTrip still accurately portrays the relative strength of American currency in eastern Europe.

Likelihood: Nah, this isn’t true. Jokic has his two large brothers and his girlfriend, they’re all living in an apartment together, and modern technology means he can FaceTime with Dreamcatcher whenever he wants. Still, if you’re in the Nuggets organization and some of this is true, drop me a line privately. I’ll take him to some of the illegal underground horse-races in rural Colorado; I may or may not know a guy. We’ll do a feature on it; it’ll be great.

5. Jokic Genuinely Thought He Only Had 3 Good Opportunities to Shoot

One of the raps against European players in the NBA is that they can be a little too deferential in what is, at its heart, a game about individual dominance and the ability of one person to impose his will on five others. Marc Gasol never reached his full potential with the Memphis Grizzlies until he just learned to cut loose and take the game in his hands, and Jokic, a player with a background and profile very similar to Gasol’s, might need to learn the same lesson. And the Nuggets don’t have time for him to learn it. A temporarily-depressed Jokic is a much better situation than a stable Jokic who genuinely thinks that scoring zero points in a game is ever an ideal outcome for his team.

Likelihood: Unfortunately, this is probably the most likely reason for Jokic’s performance, and the main reason I wish the Nuggets had gotten Dwayne Wade a year ago. They really need a Wade or Kevin Garnett -like figure to tell Jokic that a player of his talent has a responsibility to dominate games.

6. Jokic is Mad About Jameer Nelson’s Release

As someone who doesn’t actually know how NBA contracts work, and doesn’t have the financial incentive to research the question, I have no idea how badly Jameer got screwed by being released so the Nuggets could sign Richard Jefferson. Did he get all his contract money? Did he get none of it? Some? I don’t know, and I don’t know whether Jokic would be mad because he liked Nelson personally, or because he thought Nelson was a better fit at point guard. But he might not like the decision either way, and may have used the game as a way to make his feelings known.

Obviously, a rift between Jokic and the Nuggets’ front office would be disastrous. Reports that came out shortly after Jusuf Nurkic’s departure seemed to suggest that the main issue was not Nurkic’s relationship with his teammates, but his relationship with Tim Connelly and co, an impression that was strengthened when the Nuggets played the Blazers and Nurk’s former teammates all seemed to be happy for him. Connelly just spent the last draft getting pantsed by his predecessor; if he develops a reputation as a toxic presence to good players, he’s gonna have to go.

Likelihood: I don’t think this is very likely, but I get a feeling we’ll find out one way or another if the Nuggets trade for Eric Bledsoe.

7. Jokic Had a Fight with His Large Adult Brothers

I hesitate to even bring this possibility up, because it’s too sad to think about. Jokic’s large adult brothers have been pillars of support, willing to curse at Jokic from the sidelines, play mini-basketball and impart lessons learned from friend Darko Milicic. They are an unalloyed delight. But as Jokic broke out last season, it’s possible that the family dynamic changed in a way that was detrimental to his relationship with one or (no!) both of his brothers, and that he’s having to play through some serious home problems.

Likelihood: I understand that the world can be a cruel and inhospitable place, but I also believe that some measure of faith—be it in a god, a set of personal principles, or the friendship of three Serbian brothers whom I will never personally meet—is necessary to live in it. Jokic and his brothers are fine.

8. Jokic Got Tricked into Bringing a Malevolent Demon to the Game that Took One Year of Life from the Players for Each Shot That They Took

Really, beyond the existence of active diabolic forces and the senseless loss of life this scenario would entail, it’s mostly at the bottom of the list because Jokic not telling anyone about the demon would be just terrible leadership.

Likelihood: The only thing we can know for sure is that we know nothing.