Nikola Jokic is so good at basketball, that we as a society have stopped fully appreciating him. Just two nights ago, he dropped a casual 55 points in 34 minutes on the hapless Clippers, and nobody batted an eye.
Advertisement
Jokic is currently leading the league in both assists and rebounds. His Nuggets are 9-2 and might be the only hope of dethroning the seemingly unstoppable Thunder. Hell, he almost did it last year, taking OKC to seven games despite having much less help on the roster than he has now.
Maybe people just check box scores or see a highlight or two and don’t watch the games themselves. That would be a mistake, because then they’d be missing out on a true artist at work. Jokic isn’t the most impressive athlete in the league. He can’t run the fastest or jump the highest. But his mental game is so advanced that it has to be seen, if not for us mere mortals to be understood, then at least to be appreciated.
Rob Perez of SiriusXM NBA Radio’s Give and Go show pointed out one small thing Jokic does that proves he’s on another level.
“He also has one of, if not, the best basketball minds.”@WorldWideWob talks about the level of skill Nikola Jokić plays with on the court and his physical and mental presence.
Catch Give and Go with Rob Perez & @adaniels33 every weekday from 1-4pm ET on NBA Radio, Ch. 86. pic.twitter.com/0C6vIaquNQ
— SiriusXM NBA Radio (@SiriusXMNBA) November 13, 2025
In a world where the league has in many ways been “solved” by one style of play (shoot as many 3s as possible), Jokic is doing things that no amount of analytics can teach. Besides, he’s also translated his absurd basketball IQ into action on the court that makes him unlike anyone else we’ve ever seen.
Kendrick Perkins said recently that Jokic “makes Olajuwon’s great games look like regular games.” Perk is prone to hyperbole now and then, but he’s absolutely right. Hakeem Olajuwon is one of the most revered big men of all-time, and more often than not, Jokic does in one half what it took Hakeem four quarters to accomplish.
Nikola Jokic is the best player in the NBA
Jokic missed out on winning his fourth MVP award last year to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Without a doubt, SGA had an incredible season in his own right, but one would have to wonder how much voter fatigue went into him winning the award over the do-everything Serbian big man.
Despite the runner-up finish, Jokic received 19 out of 20 first-place votes in ESPN’s offseason poll of NBA coaches that asked who was the best player in the league. Luka Doncic received the only other vote, with SGA getting none despite his historic season.
Stan van Gundy heaped praise on Jokic just before the season started, saying, “He’s certainly the best in the game right now” while also stating, “But the way I look at it is this: If you threw every NBA player into the draft right now, all 30 NBA franchises would make Jokic the first pick. He’s that good.”
Tomorrow night, Jokic and the Nuggets will go against four-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert and the Wolves. Spoiler alert: even the Stifle Tower won’t be able to slow him down.
