Nikola Jokic is doing things on the NBA court that have never been seen before, especially by a man his size. He is the heavy favorite to take home his third MVP in the last four seasons. The one season he didn’t win it, Jokic was Finals MVP instead. On Saturday night, the Denver Nuggets defeated the Los Angeles Lakers by the score of 114-103. Game 2 of the opening round takes place on Monday night.
The 29-year-old Jokic had his typical game on Saturday of filling the box score. He finished with 32 points on 15-23 shooting, 12 rebounds, and seven assists. Counting the playoffs, Denver has now defeated the Lakers nine straight times. The Nuggets swept the Lakers in last year’s Western Conference Finals. They have had no answer for Jokic in any of those nine meetings, and he drew the ultimate praise from a Lakers legend.
Lakers Legend Compares Nikola Jokic to Two All-Timers
Worthy Heaps the Ultimate Praise on Jokic
Famously nicknamed ‘Big Game James’, James Worthy was a part of the Showtime Lakers that won three titles in the 1980s. The 2003 Hall of Fame inductee was named the Finals MVP in 1988.
Worthy had his share of incredible teammates, and he decided to compare Jokic to the two that most would say are the best he has had.
James Worthy with some high praise for Nikola Jokic:
“To me, Jokic is Magic and Kareem on the floor at the same time. He is a guard who makes great decisions and is a hell of a passer. But then when he wants to be Kareem, he goes down into the post and dominates”. pic.twitter.com/if1f1Itoem
— NBA Retweet (@RTNBA) April 21, 2024
Many consider Magic Johnson to be the best point guard of all-time. Many also consider Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to be the best center of all-time. Worthy decided to compare the 6-11 Jokic to both of them at once. Abdul-Jabbar was the all-time scoring leader in NBA history until LeBron James surpassed him in 2023. Johnson’s 11.2 assists per contest throughout his career are topped by nobody.
Already the Best Big Man Passer of All-Time
There isn’t much debate that Jokic is the best passer as a big man that the game has ever seen. His surgical passing ability makes the Denver offense impossible to stop at times. On top of that, he is one of the most efficient scorers in the league. In 2023-24, he shot 58.3% from the field and 81.7% from the charity stripe. It’s not like many of his attempts come on dunks either as he finished with just 17 on the season.
A wide body (listed at 285 lbs), Jokic is one of the best defensive rebounders in the league as well. Scoring, rebounding, and dishing the ball so well has allowed him to already accumulate 130 regular-season triple-doubles before the age of 30. He has totaled 54 of them just over the last two seasons. Nikola Jokic still has a long way to go in his NBA tenure. It will be interesting to see where he stands on all-time NBA great lists once his career is over.
