Nikola Jokic is arguably having the most efficient season we have seen in NBA history. In the first 13 games he played this season, he is averaging 29.2 points, 13.4 rebounds, and 11.1 assists, while shooting 64.8% from the field.
He is stacking up his resume to be regarded as one of the greatest big men to ever play the game. So much so that Reggie Miller believes Jokic is only one NBA championship away from surpassing the Spurs legend Tim Duncan on his all-time list.
Reggie Miller appeared on the Dan Patrick Show, where he discussed his personal list of the Top 10 NBA players of all-time. At one point, he was comparing how the modern players like Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, and Nikola Jokic would go up in comparison against Tim Duncan on that list.
“God, you can make a case for both of them because they’re both outliers, and they both have changed the game. Obviously, Steph in his shooting, we have never seen that before on this stage. Just like we never saw a guy walk on air like Air Jordan, we never saw a 6’9 point guard like Magic Johnson.”
“On KD’s point, I mean, he’s seven feet, even though he won’t claim that. And to be able to shoot and score, are they top 10? I would probably put Steph in the top 10 before KD,” said Miller initially.
But Miller was perplexed about who he would eliminate from his Top-10 players list of all-time. Therefore, they decided to stick to the modern era eventually.
“I mean, so are you taking out Magic? Are you taking out Larry Bird? Are you taking out Kareem? I mean, I can’t take those players out. You’re not taking out Air Jordan. So, I just named five right there. Are you talking about Hakeem Olajuwon? Now you’re talking about ‘is Hakeem on his way out?’ I mean, that’s hard to do,” said Miller when Patrick made a case for Nikola Jokic, Luka Doncic, and Kevin Durant in the Top 10.
Here’s an excerpt from the conversation between the Pacers legend Reggie Miller and Dan Patrick:
Miller: “Are you taking out Shaq?”
Patrick: “No.”
Miller: “Are you taking out Kobe?”
Patrick: “No.”
Miller: “Are you taking out Tim Duncan?”
Patrick: “Yes. I would put Steph in over Tim Duncan.”
Miller: “I cannot do that. I cannot. I will say this. I cannot take out someone who is the best at their position over Stephen Curry, who’s…
Patrick: “The greatest shooter of all time!”
Miller: “[Against] the greatest power forward of all time?”
Patrick: “Steph Curry changed basketball.”
Miller: “I agree. I said that. Wow. Five chips versus four chips because you’ve got to count those too. How many MVPs for Tim Duncan? Two or three?”
Patrick: “Two.”
Miller: “And two for Curry, back to back too.”
Patrick: “Yeah. Would you take KD over Tim Duncan?”
Miller: “No. Okay. All right. No.”
Patrick: “Would you take Joker?”
Miller: “Over Tim Duncan? Yeah, the only thing missing from the Joker is another championship. Once he gets the two championships, then we can have this discussion. Right now, no. Yeah. He has the MVPs, and he’ll have the stats. The only thing missing from the Joker’s resume is chips.”
Therefore, Miller believes that while Stephen Curry has not surpassed Tim Duncan on his Top 10 players of all time, Nikola Jokic is just one championship away from having a solid case in that discussion for him.
Tim Duncan was a Spurs player for 19 seasons. In 1,392 regular-season games, he averaged 19.0 points, 10.8 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 2.2 blocks. He was chosen to participate in fifteen All-Star games. He won five NBA titles, two MVP honors, three Finals MVP honors, and Rookie of the Year. In 2020, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Assuming that Nikola Jokic wins one more championship, would he have done sufficient in his career to surpass Tim Duncan? In my opinion, while the answer still remains no, I understand why Miller said what he said.
We have never seen a big man play with the efficiency and all-around skill that Nikola Jokic has today. Considering that Jokic has won three MVP awards in the last five years, his dominant era cannot be ignored as well. Just because he does not plan to play as long as Tim Duncan did does not mean we discount the quality of basketball IQ and product that we see consistently from Jokic over the last few years.
