Today’s NBA news is all about the Nuggets and Nikola Jokic, who secured their place in history by beating the Heat in Game 5.
Of all the remarkable things about Nikola Jokic’s career resume, the most remarkable may be that he’s still only 28 and closer to the beginning of his hypothetical prime than the end of it.
Given how things went this year, it seems like he has a decent chance at averaging a triple-double for his entire career, something only two other players have ever managed.
The Basketball-Reference Hall-of-Fame probability model — which takes into account variables like titles, leaderboard points, peak Win Shares and All-Star Game selections — hasn’t been updated yet to include info from this season.
That is to say, without playing another game, he would have already amassed a Hall-of-Fame resume more impressive than Kawhi Leonard, Draymond Green, Joe Dumars, Artis Gilmore, Nate Thurmond, Wes Unseld, Mo Cheeks or Reggie Miller.
The point I’m trying to make is that Nikola Jokic is just one of the greatest passing big men in NBA history and he’s not just the best player in the world right now.
We’re less than two weeks away from the NBA Draft and as the top few picks begin to come together, it’s worth shifting some focus to prospects who could be selected later in the lottery or first-round.
They also have a slew of veterans who could be leaving in free agency and while replacing them may be more important for the regular season than the playoffs, they need to keep building their depth.
All advice, including picks and predictions, is based on individual commentators’ opinions and not that of Minute Media or its related brands.