Have you ever had a debate about who the best NBA player is? I know I have. I usually hear Lebron or Shai, but the best NBA player currently is Nikola Jokic from the Denver Nuggets.
Jokic, often described as nonchalant, worries more about sleeping than playing. Despite his careless attitude and lack of emotion, Jokic still proves to be the best player in the league. Jokic makes all of the players around him look better, he has an amazing basketball IQ, and lastly, but most importantly, he’s averaging a triple-double.
Nikola Jokic has been in the NBA for 10 seasons after being drafted in 2014 and making his debut in the 2015-2016 season. Jokic has only played for one NBA team, which has been the Denver Nuggets. Jokic didn’t attend a U.S. college; he was drafted from professional basketball in Serbia. He got drafted in the second round with the 41st pick.
When you think of basketball IQ, you think of Lebron or Luka, but at the top, way ahead of them, is Nikola Jokic. “Best player in basketball right now,” Hall of Famer Magic Johnson said of Jokic. “His basketball IQ is off the charts.” Magic Johnson played the same brand of basketball; they both play team basketball, and they both put us before me. Magic Johnson is one of the best basketball players ever, so it’s hard not to put Jokic in that category as well.
Another part of Jokic’s game is his ability to hit the open man for the wide-open shot. “He didn’t look at me one time the entire play,” Nuggets guard Julian Strawther said, “and as soon as he crossed half court, he no-looked me, fired it across the court to the other corner. The ball landed right in my lap for a wide-open corner 3.” The capability to find the open man without him even knowing just shows Jokic’s high IQ on the court. When he does this multiple times in a game, it’s hard to ignore that he is the best.
We’ve already covered the IQ portion of his game, but to be the best in the world, you have to have multiple attributes to your game, with the next one being his presence on his team. Sports analyst Kendrick Perkins noted that Jokic has never played with another All-Star. Winning a finals without another All-Star on your team is crazy, but Jokic completed this in 2023 when he beat the Miami Heat in five games and won Finals MVP. He averaged 30 points, 14 rebounds, and 7 assists, leading Denver to its first-ever title.
When a player can get another team’s general manager to say this about him, it means he is the real deal. “I would be scared if I was a GM to sign another player from the Denver Nuggets because he makes them that much better,” Doc Rivers, GM of the Milwaukee Bucks, said. You don’t hear people saying this for other players because Jokic truly is the only reason his team is performing so well.
The last part of his game that makes him stand out is that he is averaging a triple-double. A triple-double is when you score 10 or more points, 10 or more rebounds, and 10 or more assists in a game. He is currently the only player averaging this in the NBA. He’s averaging 30 points, 13 rebounds, and 11 assists on 63% shooting from the field. The average for the NBA is 45 to 47%. Jokic has been averaging triple-doubles for seven consecutive seasons. Some players dream of recording a triple-double at least one time in their career, and Jokic is doing this on the nightly. Very few NBA players get triple-doubles, but not Jokic, who’s known for the triple-double. From 2010 to 2020, Russell Westbrook was known for triple-doubles, but Jokic has surpassed him, and he’s currently on top of the NBA world, known for his consistency.
When you look at the NBA, people always talk about the flashy players like Lebron, Shai, or Tatum, but Jokic gets overlooked. He’s not known for his flashy plays; he’s known for his consistency. He’s not known to be in the spotlight, but he’s known to destroy teams. Nikola Jokic uses his IQ, presence on his team, and stats to back all of this up.
