“Category of His Own”: Nikola Jokic’s Dominance Sparks Debate Between Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett

Infamously drafted during a Taco Bell commercial in the 2nd round of the 2014 NBA Draft, Nikola Jokic has since grown leaps and bounds and cemented his legacy as one of the greatest players ever. He has won 3 MVPs in the last 4 years, and the way he’s dominating teams this season, he is already expected to win his fourth in as many as just five years. Impressed by his extraordinary season, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett couldn’t help but discuss Jokic’s unstoppable game while comparing him to the greatest centers ever.

Garnett claimed that due to his statistical dominance this season, Jokic is a lot like Wilt Chamberlain, who is famous for his almost mythical scoring stats. The former Laker holds multiple scoring records, including the highest single-season scoring average in NBA history, with 50.4 ppg.

For his part, Jokic is second in the league in all three categories, points, rebounds, and assists, all in just a single season. Though not as unbelievable as Wilt’s 100 points in a game, the Serbian is still putting up numbers that are rather hard to believe.

Pierce, noting Chamberlain’s prolific scoring and rebounding, claimed his assist numbers paled in comparison to the Joker’s. This prompted the former Finals MVP to boldly announce that the Serbian is in a category of his own.

“Nah, that’s a category of his own. Ain’t nobody ever been top 2 in the three main categories! Yea but (Wilt’s) assist part..”

The duo went back and forth over this for a bit, with Garnett insinuating Chamberlain was as good at assisting as Joker. Pierce stood his ground and claimed that Wilt was a historically poor passer, and even asked the producer to look up his stats.

Was Wilt better all around than Nikola Jokic?

Chamberlain’s career averages do point to him being a bit of a ball hog, his 4.4 assists per game average pointing out he wasn’t as exemplary a passer as Jokic. However, Garnett is also right: Wilt did lead the league in assists once in the 1967-68 season. He dished out 702 dimes over 82 games, and to this day, Chamberlain is the only center to have ever won the assists title.

Jokic, while never having won the assist title, is a lot better passer than Wilt. He’s currently averaging a triple-double over the season, something that only 2 other players have ever done, neither of who were centers. His stat line of 32-14-10 is near unmatched, with only Russell Westbrook putting up numbers close during his MVP season.

However, no stat emphasizes Jokic’s importance to his team more than how dismal the Nuggets are when he’s not playing. When he’s benched during games, the Nuggets offensive rating drops to nearly 89, as compared to almost 128 when he’s playing. This was pointed out a month ago on Reddit, and the stark difference really shows how impactful he is to the side.

No player has ever impacted winning this much, even when they’ve been the catalysts of their team’s offense. Jokic is putting up an all-time historic season, and the worst part is we’ve become so used to him doing it, that this is just seen as another regular season.