Nikola Jokic usually speaks in a calm tone, rarely dramatic. But during a recent conversation with Edin Avdic on X&O’s Chats, the Denver Nuggets star leaned forward a bit when the topic turned to a familiar complaint about the modern NBA. That criticism, he believes, simply does not reflect reality.
“The NBA is by far the best league in the world, with the best players. Where you have all kinds of talents, all kinds of types of players, different sizes, different body types.”
“When people say… man… when people… I’m glad I get to say this. This is why I’m glad we’re doing this interview. When people say there’s no defense played in the NBA, that’s such nonsense.”
“Whoever says that, whether it’s a coach, I think they don’t know what they’re talking about. I’m lying, I misspoke. They don’t follow it. If they follow it and still say that, then they don’t know what they’re talking about.”
His point comes with weight. Jokic is widely seen as the best player in the world right now, a center who controls games through passing vision and scoring touch while quietly directing teammates around him like pieces moving on a board.
And the truth is simple. Defense today requires constant thinking.
Watch a game closely, and it becomes obvious how complicated the job has become, because defenders must react to quick handoffs, screens arriving from different spots, shooters drifting toward corners, and guards attacking the paint while help defenders rotate behind them. Possessions feel crowded.
That is the strange part about the criticism. Offenses look smoother now, and the scoreboard climbs higher than it used to, but the defensive work happening underneath all that movement is harder than people expect.
The league has changed. A lot. Jokic also spoke about the evolution of basketball during the same interview, explaining that he believes the NBA today is stronger than it was decades ago, even while showing respect for legends who shaped earlier eras.
He mentioned Larry Bird with clear admiration. And then there was a nod toward Victor Wembanyama, the towering young star who already looks like the next wave of basketball talent. Jokic talked about him with curiosity more than anything, the way a veteran watches a new kind of player step onto the stage.
Still, Jokic kept the mood light in parts of the conversation. At one point, he admitted that he still owes fifty euros to a former NBA player from many years ago, a debt that somehow survived fourteen seasons of professional basketball and countless paychecks.
The joke landed easily. Yet the earlier comment stayed with people. When the best player in the world pushes back on a common criticism, especially one repeated so often, the argument suddenly sounds different.
