Nikola Jokic Never Having a Hall-of-Fame Caliber Teammate Is ‘Unacceptable’, Says Former Nuggets Coach

Nikola Jokic has had another great start to the season, leading the MVP charts after a month of action. However, it has slowly begun to dawn upon the NBA community that the Joker is the only superstar in the league without a legitimate All-Star on his team. Former head coach of the franchise, George Karl, thinks that it is unacceptable that a player of Jokic’s caliber isn’t getting a Hall of Fame-worthy teammate to maximize his potential.

The 73-year-old recently came across a post by Swipa, a Denver Sports Analyst for Mile High Sports. In the post, Swipa mentioned how unprecedented it is that the Joker hasn’t played with a potential HOF player yet.

He listed out the names of some of the all-time greats of the game, like Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Shaquille O’Neal, Stephen Curry, and the late, great Kobe Bryant. All of them played alongside another Hall of Famer in their prime.

“It’s so frustrating to watch the once-in-a-lifetime dominance we are seeing from Joker and to be in a situation where fans are begging for someone to assume the role as a true second star,” he said.

This makes the Nuggets the only team to not provide their superstar player with the necessary help. That has to be frustrating for Denver fans. The Nuggets’ complacency has only increased after the side’s 2023 Championship win.

Karl quote-tweeted the post and wrote, “It’s unacceptable.”

The only ‘All-Star’ Jokic has been playing with is, DeAndre Jordan, whose first and only selection came in 2017. The three-time MVP has other good teammates like Aaron Gordon, Jamal Murray, and Michael Porter Jr., among others, but they’re just not on that level.

Karl believes that Nikola Jokic is the best player of all time

In his 50+ years of being in the league, Karl has seen the rise of some of the greatest players of all-time. Despite that, he confidently claims that Jokic is the best player he has ever seen.

Earlier in April this year, he posted, “I’ve been around hoops for 50 years and I’ve seen a lot of incredible players, including Connie, Julius, Michael, Tim, Shaq, KAJ, Kobe and LBJ. But, at this point, I’m thinking Jokic may be the best player I’ve ever seen play basketball.”

He left his head coaching job in Denver two years before the franchise brought Jokic in. Even after looking at him from a distance, the former Nuggets coach believes that the Serbian is a better player than all the other greats he mentioned.