The basketball world is mourning the loss of two-time champion and former league MVP Bill Walton. Walton was a legendary player but also a beloved analyst who perfectly encapsulated Nikola Jokic’s game in an interview before he had even made an All-NBA appearance. Walton compared Jokic to historic visionaries such as Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., And Nelson Mandela.
“When you see someone like Nelson Mandela or Martin Luther King or Mahatma Gandhi, someone who sees the future before anyone else does, knows how to get to where they need to be, where they want to be, that is Nikola Jokic. Happiness begins when selfishness ends. In a game that has been taken over by incessant dribbling for yourself, Nikola Jokic is such a breath of fresh air. And it’s his imagination. Watching him play basketball is like watching Bob Dylan come up with a song.”
Walton referred to a then 23-year-old Nikola Jokic as a beautiful player, eloquently describing how wonderful it is to watch him play.
“He’s a beautiful player who plays a mental game. He has what seems to have been lost in the world, which is peripheral vision. When you walk down the street in life, when you drive a car in life, when you ride a bike in the world on a street, it is staggering the lack of peripheral vision. But Nikola Jokic is the antidote to so many of our problems in the world.”
Walton summarized in an even more abstract manner, saying Jokic’s play gives him hope for tomorrow.
“When you watch Nikola Jokic play, you feel good about life. You feel good about the world. You believe that tomorrow is worth fighting for.”
Jokic was at the start of his ascendancy in December 2018 when Walton made these statements, ending the year as an All-NBA First-Team selection. Jokic would live up to the incredible praise from Walton, winning three league MVPs and one NBA Championship in the six years since Walton made these comments.
The Serbian center is widely considered to be one of the most unique and influential centers of his generation, who will no doubt be remembered as an all-time great upon his retirement.
Bill Walton Called LeBron James An All-Time Great In 2005
When Bill Walton felt enamored by a player, he wouldn’t stop himself from showering them with praise. This was the case with LeBron James towards the end of his sophomore season, calling him an all-time great as he was on the precipice of his first All-NBA selection.
“LeBron James is there right now. What he’s doing is just so spectacular, but it’s also sad and frustrating. LeBron has everything going for him, the talent. He reminds me so much of Michael Jordan in the early days of his career, playing out there by himself… You see this guy who is just 20 years old doing things that have never been done before, and everybody else out there is sort of scratching their head saying ‘What are we doing?’”
James was expected to be an all-time great, but equating him to that level at the end of his second season in the NBA was quite a hot take at the time. Similar to Jokic, Walton’s praise bore fruit nonetheless, as James went from having no All-NBA selections at the time of that quote to now having 20, the most in NBA history.
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