When Nikola Jokic came to the Nike Hoop Summit back in 2014, no one could have imagined that nine years later, he’d be widely viewed as the best player in the NBA.
With Jokic having led the Denver Nuggets to their first championship in dominant fashion, his comments to Jonathan Givony all those years back at the Summit on how he plays the game, have gone viral.
“Basketball is about teammates,” Jokic told Givony. “When I’m open, I score. When I’m not, I pass. I play basketball as simple as I can. I don’t jump high. I don’t run fast. I don’t think so much about the NBA.”
"Basketball is about teammates," Nikola Jokic told me the first time I met him at the Nike Hoop Summit in April of 2014. "When I’m open, I score. When I'm not, I pass. I play basketball as simple as I can. I don't jump high. I don't run fast. I don't think so much about the NBA." https://t.co/UySqOl8LUa pic.twitter.com/oCIsvHiJjm
— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) June 13, 2023
He is far from being the best athlete in the NBA, but Jokic just dominates using his mind. He lets the game come to him and decides his course of action based on what the defense is giving him. He can go off for 53 points as he did in Game 4 against the Phoenix Suns or he can dish out 17 assists, as he did in Game 3 against them. He rarely if ever forces anything and is a joy to watch on the court.
You can check out the whole interview with Givony here.
LeBron James Stated Nikola Jokic Plays The Game The Same Way He Does
Ironically, one of the players who Jokic has been compared to a fair bit is someone who is his polar opposite when it comes to athleticism, LeBron James. His head coach Michael Malone, who also coached LeBron, stated there are a lot of similarities when it comes to their IQ and feel for the game.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope who has played with both of them, stated that the only difference is that LeBron can jump higher, which is some very high praise for the Joker.
LeBron himself spoke glowingly of Jokic after their meeting in the Conference Finals, stating that Jokic sees plays before they happen. He also stated that the Serb plays the game a certain way that he loves to play as well. LeBron concluded by saying Jokic is a special player, and he certainly is.
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