Nikola Jokic is having a tremendous season this one, especially in this new year, averaging 24.9 points, 10.9 rebounds and 7.1 assists on 54.1 percent shooting since Jan. 2. He’s getting a lot of praise around the league, and Tim Connelly, the Nuggets’ President of Basketball Operations, is not exempt from this.
As a matter of fact, Connelly has been nothing but impressed with his All-Star center’s recent surge and had some high praise for the 24-year-old.
“I think right now he’s the best player in the NBA,” Connelly told Altitude Sports Radio on Friday. “I don’t think anyone else impacts winning the way he does right now.”
Connelly, though, knows his comments will raise a lot of eyebrows around the league. Jokic is being compared to three MVPs in Giannis Antetokounmpo, LeBron James and James Harden. However, Connelly made his case by pointing to Jokic’s unique style of play as a 7-foot point guard and growth as a leader on a relatively young Nuggets team.
“He’s embraced leadership, he’s embraced this team and he really enjoys his teammates,” Connelly explained before later adding. “I’ve never seen anything like it, a [7-foot] point-center with an unbelievable IQ and a guy who doesn’t care about being a superstar. He cares about winning.
“He just wants to be one of the guys and make sure we win a lot of games. [He wants] to make sure his impact in games is felt every night.”
The Joker is one of the best players in his position right now, but not everybody believes he’s one of the best players in the league. He still has a lot of things to improve and take to the next level. Perhaps it wouldn’t’ be a shock if we call him one of the best players in the league in a couple of years from now.
