When the NBA announced 76 players to its 75th Anniversary team to start this season — a tie resulted in the extra selection — there was no more glaring omission than the Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic. Jokic, who this past week was awarded his second-consecutive MVP trophy, was one of only two MVPS in history to not make the cut. The other, Derrick Rose, had his prime gutted a decade ago by chronic debilitating knee injuries that left him a shell of the player he was before.

The list was decided by a panel of 88 selectors, including media, current and former players, coaches, general managers and team executives. The NBA described its criteria for selection as predicated on players “being pioneers that have helped shape, define and redefine the game.”

With that underlying premise, the selection committee included, of course, the unquestioned greatest ever, such as Wilt Chamberlain and Michael Jordan. But the list also included the likes of Robert Parish, Damian Lillard, Dave Debusschere, Anthony Davis, James Worthy and Carmelo Anthony — six guys who, simply, don’t have anywhere near the ALL-NBA accolades and imprint on the way the game is played Jokic has.

When you consider statistics and accolades as well as the “pioneers redefining the game” definition, the selection committee whiffed.

But the ever-passionate, forever-driven 27-year-old superstar probably wouldn’t have it any other way. After all, through a lifetime of hard work and undying love of the game, he’s proven doubters wrong and made himself the most transcendent offensive big man since Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-jabbar — all after growing up a plodding, pudgy kid in a Serbian city, Sombor, with fewer residents than Castle Rock.

How’s that for “redefining the game”? On the court, Jokic’s never-beforeseen, do-it-all, point-center style has influenced basketball more than most players on the NBA 75. Off it, he’s inspired kids from eastern Europe to East Colfax that you don’t have to be built like Lebron James to become the best.

Maybe Jokic is overlooked because of his lower public profile. Or maybe it’s his frame, which appears unathletic, gangly and less aesthetically impressive than his fellow two-time MVP and contemporary peer Giannis Antetokounmpo — who rightfully made the NBA 75 team.

It surely isn’t the stats. Jokic in his playoff career has averaged more points per game, 26.44, than Kobe Bryant, Shaq and Larry Bird. He ranks seventh all-time with 76 career triple-doubles — more than Bird, Bob Cousy and Jordan. And, to put his otherworldly offensive skill into proper context, as a 6-foot-11 center, his 39.6 playoff 3-point percentage is better than legendary sharpshooter Reggie Miller. That’s from the very same player, Jokic, who’s averaged more rebounds-per-playoff-game (11.48) than Tim Duncan, Hakeem Olajuwon and Karl Malone.

Oh, and he does all that while undertaking what few NBA stars value anymore: playing every game he’s remotely healthy.

So it should be no surprise Jokic trails only Jordan for greatest “Box Plus/ Minus” ever recorded — a post-1973 stat that, effectively, gauges how much better or worse a team is with a player on or off the court.

Unlike the NBA 75 selectors, the city of Denver, the state of Colorado and the Nuggets organization know what Jokic is worth — so much so that Nuggets coach Mike Malone surprised Jokic 9,000 miles from Denver with the MVP trophy. A world and reality away from the Centennial State, at his horse stable in his native Sombor, Jokic — clearly stunned — wiped away tears as Malone embraced him with a bear hug and kiss on the cheek — one that, for all intents and purposes, harbored the endless gratitude of Nuggets fans everywhere.