Even professional athletes and famous people aren’t immune to the brutal reality of having a full-time job. Nikola Jokic’s teammate just joined the bandwagon of journaling on LinkedIn (or LinkedIn Cringe as the Internet calls it) by documenting his back-to-back setbacks. The post and its raw emotions have gone viral for capturing the excruciating pain of playing against Luka Doncic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. All in a day’s work as they say.

In the high-stakes world of the NBA, the hero and the scapegoat are often separated by a fraction of a second. For Denver Nuggets forward Spencer Jones, the last ten days have been a brutal masterclass in that reality.

After finding himself on the wrong side of two consecutive game-winning shots by the league’s premier superstars, the 24-year-old Stanford alum (a prominent LinkedIn flex apart from being Adam Silver’s intern) disregarded X.com and Instagram Stories, or even a post-game interview for LinkedIn. In a poignant post, he delivered a vulnerable and viral reflection on the nature of public failure and professional responsibility.

Jones, who has emerged as a trusted defensive specialist in David Adelman’s rotation, was put on the Shai Gilgeous-Alexander assignment during a heartbreaking 129-126 loss to the Thunder on March 9. That was followed by guarding Luka Doncic in a 127-125 overtime thriller against the Lakers on March 14. In both instances, Jones played “perfect” defense, only for the stars to hit contested, impossible jumpers.

“Everybody wants the moment. Nobody talks about being on the wrong side of it,” Jones wrote in a post after the Lakers game that quickly pivoted from a sports recap to a leadership manifesto.

He goes on to write, “Last week, I had two game-winning shots hit on me. And yeah… that’s the part no one signs up for. But it comes with the job. When your role is to be a defender… you’re also accepting the risk that sometimes, it won’t go your way.”

Jones’ candid admission that “avoiding failure often just means avoiding responsibility” struck a chord far beyond the basketball court, bridging the gap between professional sports and the corporate world.

Luka Doncic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander emotionally scar Nuggets star

On March 9, Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander tied Wilt Chamberlain’s record for consecutive 20-point games, but it was the last-second heroics burnt behind Spencer Jones’ eyeballs. Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic had just done a four-point play to get them within one point.

Then in front of Jones, SGA hit his step-back three over the outstretched arms of Jones with 3.3 seconds left that sealed the win. The exact moment Spencer ‘failed’ was captured in motion and included in the LinkedIn post.

Before he could put that memory behind him, the improbable happened just five days later. Jones faced a similar fate against Luka Doncic in a game that was not the Lakers to win. Despite Jones forcing Doncic into a difficult, off-balance look in overtime, the Slovenian star drained the jumper to hand Denver another narrow defeat.

Jones has been a vital unsung hero for a Nuggets team (44-28) that has battled injuries to Nikola Jokic, Jonas Valanciunas, Christian Braun and Aaron Gordon. Despite the two losses, the coaching staff’s trust in Jones remains unshaken.

He played over 20 minutes in a 126-94 blowout win over the 76ers on March 17. He had limited minutes in Sunday’s wire-to-wire victory over Portland.

Jones concluded his viral post with a perspective shaped by his engineering background and his G-League journey. “The moment doesn’t define you, your response to it does. Sometimes people just hit tough shots. That’s life.”

Which, honestly, are words to live by. Coming from a player who went undrafted and earned his way into the Nuggets’ rotation through sheer defensive grit, the willingness to “step back in again” is exactly what has solidified his place in Denver’s future.