(Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

Nikola Jokic clearly got tired of the fat jokes, so he put in some work.

The 6-foot-11 Denver Nuggets star does not exactly possess the most chiseled of NBA physiques, but he might have it now or on his way to getting it after a photo surfaced online showing him looking much slimmer since he was last seen on an NBA floor.

Nuggets head coach Mike Malone even said so himself that Jokic is in tremendous shape.
“I know our guys have been working,” Malone said, via Andrew Joe Potter of theScore. “Seeing Nikola (Jokic), seeing Jamal (Murray) – these guys have been so committed, so focused, so disciplined in terms of keeping their bodies in shape.”

“I mean, Nikola, before the season was suspended on March 12, had lost close to – I don’t know – 25, 30 pounds maybe,” Malone added. “He was just in phenomenal shape. And he’s maintained that, if not improved it.

“So if there are reports out there of a 6-foot-11 lean, mean fighting machine Serbian walking around, I believe it because I’ve seen it.”

Before the season was suspended, Jokic averaging 20.2 points, 10.2 rebounds, and 6.9 assists for the Nuggets.