DENVER • Hope it doesn’t. Hope the carefree, eighth-grade humor that Nikola Jokic dispenses in endearing Serbian-English never goes away. Sports are fun, and the ton-of-fun 7-footer who headlines the latest Nuggets revival is a kick in the pants. Hope it never changes.

Asked for his take on older brother Nemanja Jokic winning a recent MMA match by technical knockout, Nikola deadpanned: “And then he got back home and I knocked him out.”

How would the good times go bad? If Nikola’s Nuggets don’t win big. They’ve made him The Guy, complete with a $147 million max contract extension, and the only way jokes with Joker grow tired is if the ratio of wisecracks-to-wins gets out of whack. That’s just how this works.

And that’s where Paul Millsap comes in. Remember him? No. 4, power forward, four-time All-Star, Montbello-kid-come-home. Speaks softly, used to carry a big stick. Starting Wednesday at the L.A. Clippers, we’re going to find out what these Nuggets look like with a healthy Paul Millsap.

So that’s exciting. I think.

We don’t know for sure, because the Nuggets got to see Millsap for only 16 truly healthy games before he suffered a freaky wrist injury that required surgery and still — 11 months later — had him getting choked up when we spoke Tuesday in the locker room. “Heartbreaking,” Millsap said, and the sincerity of his anguish says plenty about a man who’s already made $150 million playing basketball.

“Words can’t really describe it. Going through my first surgery, being out for that length of time, it was devastating,” said Millsap, whose step-by-step rise was carved out by old-fashioned hard work.

And now?

”Since coming into the league I would say I feel better than I ever have,” he said.

See, Millsap is 33. But don’t say the “O” word around him, like I goofed, recalling that time I covered his Louisiana Tech team way back in the day. Made me feel old, I told him. His cold stare screamed what are you trying to say, dude, so we detoured back to the original topic: These Nuggets vs. Your Hawks.

How do you get the first one to take every game seriously like the second one did? Millsap’s 2014-15 Hawks never took a day off, won 60(!) games and reached the conference finals.

“If we had the offensive firepower that this team had, we probably would’ve won the championship,” Millsap said. “Honestly, we probably would’ve won the whole thing.”

If the Nuggets were an emoji it would be the one sticking its tongue out. It needs to be the one that’s huffing air out of its nose like somebody kicked its shin. Every. Single. Game.

Yes, that’s where Millsap comes in again. He must be good this season, but not in a points and rebounds or “vintage Millsap” sort of way. He must be good in reminding and showing the young fellas handed the right to lead an NBA franchise that their opportunity is a rare one.

The joy of a fresh, new reality can be taken away at any time — as Millsap personally can attest. So don’t lose to the Nets. Don’t lose to the Grizz, (the bad) Hawks or Mavericks. Twice.

“If everybody is doing it by example that’s great,” coach Michael Malone said Tuesday. “But every team needs a voice.”

The loudest in the room is that of 5-foot-9 stick-of-dynamite Isaiah Thomas, who again raised the volume by gifting a “Bumpboxx” stereo system to each teammate to tip off the season.

”Hey, it’s loud,” Jokic said.

So is the hype train, which makes for a sweet ride until it runs you over. Even Sir Charles bought a ticket. Barkley pegged the Nuggets as the next No. 3 seed in the Western Conference.

”These guys want to be good. It’s just the little things, about the steps. I.T.’s been there. So have I. We want to show these guys you have to take the steps and can’t skip ‘em,” Millsap said. “Everything’s a process once you get to this point — our team and where we want to go. We all want to have it fast and have it right now. But you have to take steps.

“I think this year’s a big year for us. How many steps we take this year is to be determined. But I feel like we’re going to take major strides toward where we want to be. It’s a big year.”

Forty-nine wins stands as a reasonable goal and the prediction here. The Nuggets last season won 46, a number anchored down by those silly losses we were talking about. Now they need a li’l birdie on one shoulder whispering, this Suns game? Counts the same as the Warriors game. That’s where Paul Millsap comes in.

(Contact Gazette sports columnist Paul Klee at paul.klee@gazettedev.gazette.com or on Twitter at @bypaulklee.)

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