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Par Joël Pütz | Journaliste sportif
Three-time MVP and NBA champion Nikola Jokic is already one of the greatest players in history. But where does he stand in the hierarchy? His admirers already include him in the all-time Top 10, but Lou Williams has a slightly different opinion on the matter.
His contribution was to be fundamental against the Thunder, and Nikola Jokic wasted no time in imposing his rhythm. Posting 42 points, 22 rebounds and 6 assists in the Nuggets’ Game 1 victory, the center reminded everyone why he was considered the best player on the planet, even though he could lose his MVP crown to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in 2024-25.
The third player in history to average triple-double over a full season, the Serbian appears to be at the top of his game at the age of 30. And yet, it’s not out of the question that he could do even better, a terrifying prospect. Given his track record and his many exploits on the court, many already consider him a member of the Top 10 all-time. But that’s not yet the case for Lou Williams…
Lou Williams stalls on Nikola Jokic’s all-time status
Interviewed on the Run It Back show, the former Sixth Man was keen to calm everyone’s nerves. In his opinion, it would be premature to talk about the Joker in these terms, and to illustrate his point, Williams used Russell Westbrook as an example. The center’s teammate went through a similar period in his career, but isn’t regarded today as one of the best basketball players of all time:
It’s unbelievable, but we didn’t make this argument for Russell Westbrook when he was doing this. When Russell Westbrook was averaging a triple-double for two or three seasons… even had a 60-20-20 game, we didn’t make this argument for Russell Westbrook as a top-10 player of all time.
He’s on an unbelievable run right now, but let’s see what the totality of his career turns into. He’s a one-time champion, (three)-time MVP, had a great opportunity to get another one, but let’s see what happens after this. We didn’t make an argument like this for Westbrook when he was on a run like this.
Now Jokic is different, don’t get me wrong, I understand that this is a completely different scenario, but we gotta relax with guys of steel in the primes of their career, let’s see what else happens. ‘Knock on wood’ if he goes out there and puts up five or six duds in a row of seasons, we’re not gonna say this anymore. So you got to allow guys to be who they are and allow the totality of their careers to pan out and see what happens.
