Draymond Green doesn’t hold back in handing out praise to Nikola Jokic as he compares him to both LeBron James and Chris Paul.
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Nikola Jokic has had the unfortunate task of carrying a team well past its capabilities all season long due to injuries to both Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. He’s a clear cut candidate for regular season MVP for 2021-22 alongside Joel Embiid and Giannis after having won it the previous year.
Everything from Jokic’s season points to him being the sole reason as to why the Denver Nuggets are even in a position to win a second game against Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors.
His offensive rating on the season was an incredible 125.6 to go along with 27.1 points on nearly 60% shooting from the field. Another player who has had an otherworldly ORTG this season was Draymond Green.
In certain ways, both Nikola Jokic and Draymond Green play similar roles on their teams in terms of generating offense. The Nuggets are dead in the water on that end of the floor with Jokic and the Warriors have proven themselves to be a subpar team at best without Green playing games.
Draymond Green on Nikola Jokic and his passing ability.
Draymond Green has been perhaps the biggest reason as to why the Golden State Warriors are currently up 3 games to 1 against Nikola Jokic and his Nuggets. Given his skillset, it’s a predetermined notion by several teams across the league that Jokic needs to be double-teamed or at least have one guy shadowing him at all times.
However, Green has been able to limit the Nuggets’ offense significantly by defending the reigning MVP in single coverage for a majority of the series. Jokic has still been putting up numbers but he hasn’t been able to get quality looks to his teammates as often as he used to as they all have a man on them.
Draymond going toe-to-toe with Nikola has resulted in him realizing just how great of a player he is. He dished out a high level of praise to the Serbian center in a postgame presser where he claimed Jokic sees the floor the way LeBron James does and dishes out assists in a Chris Paul-esque way.
Draymond Green describing Nikola Jokic:
“Can score as well as anyone with the passing of Chris Paul, while seeing the floor like LeBron James”
That’s some pretty high praise from the best defender of this generation.
— (@KGsGOAT) April 25, 2022