On Monday night, Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets earned the right to call themselves NBA champions as they defeated the Miami Heat four games to one in the 2023 NBA Finals. Although he may have been “robbed” of the regular season MVP award, Jokic had the last laugh as he hoisted the Larry O’Brien Trophy and the Bill Russell Finals MVP Award. With 30.2 PPG, 14.0 RPG, and 7.2 APG, Jokic put on one of the most incredible Finals performances in recent memory, sparking a debate about where he now sits amongst the most elite players to ever play the center position in NBA history.
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Today, we are going to dive as deep as possible into that very debate and place Nikola Jokic where we think he rightfully sits for now. We will discuss his resume along with the other elite big men in NBA history’s resumes to determine the level of greatness he has already achieved. Don’t get me wrong, Jokic is already deserving of the highest praise we can offer for what he has done in the NBA at just 28 years old, which now includes leading the Denver Nuggets to their first NBA championship in franchise history. However, it may be a bit premature to include him with the elite all-time greats at this point.
Now, let’s take a look at Nikola Jokic’s career resume so far and see where he ranks amongst the other great centers in NBA history.
Nikola Jokic’s Career Resume
1x NBA Champion
1x NBA Finals MVP
2x NBA Most Valuable Player
5x NBA All-Star
5x All-NBA Team Selection
At just 28 years old, Nikola Jokic has built quite the resume already in his NBA career. After being drafted 41st overall in 2014 during a commercial break, Nikola Jokic has put a stamp on his claim as the greatest second-round pick in NBA history. For the first three seasons of his career, Jokic flew under the radar as a player averaging 14.9 PPG, 9.1 RPG, 4.4 APG, and 1.0 SPG from 2015 thru 2018. In 2019, many began to notice what the native of Sombor, Serbia had to offer on the court with his first All-Star and All-NBA Team selections.
In 2020, Jokic and the Nuggets would advance to their first Western Conference Finals since 2009 but fell to the eventual champion Los Angeles Lakers. Over the next two years, Jokic and the Nuggets had to battle adversity by losing key stars such as Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. Jokic had Denver’s back with back-to-back MVP seasons averaging 26.7 PPG, 12.3 RPG, 8.1 APG, and 1.4 SPG between 2021 and 2022. Although it was clear Jokic was the game’s best center, the Nuggets continued to fall flat during the playoffs. With Murray and Porter Jr. back in the lineup for 2022-23, the Nuggets clicked on all cylinders, led by Jokic, as they won 53 games during the regular season and reached the magic number of 16 wins in the NBA playoffs to become NBA champions for the first time.
Top 5 Greatest Centers In NBA History – Nikola Jokic Still Can’t Join This GroupKareem Abdul-Jabbar
Credit: Malcolm Emmons-USA TODAY Sports
6x NBA Champion
2x NBA Finals MVP
6x NBA Most Valuable Player
19x All-Star
15x All-NBA Team Selection
11x All-Defensive Team Selection
1x NBA Rookie Of The Year
2x Scoring Champion
The greatest center of all time is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and we can conclude right away that Nikola Jokic is still many years away from being on his level. Kareem holds the NBA record for most MVP awards with six and is a six-time NBA champion on top of it. Kareem was an MVP, NBA champion, Finals MVP, and scoring champion in just his second season in 1971 with the Milwaukee Bucks.
Over the next nearly two decades of his career, Kareem would build one of the greatest career resumes of any center in NBA history and build a case for himself as the GOAT as he broke Wilt Chamberlain’s scoring record and led the Lakers to five NBA championships during the 1980s. Jokic has a lot of work to do if he wishes to catch the greatest center ever, but again, he is only 28 years old right now.
Shaquille O’Neal
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4x NBA Champion
3x NBA Finals MVP
1x NBA Most Valuable Player
15x All-Star
14x All-NBA Team Selection
3x All-Defensive Team Selection
1x Rookie Of The Year
2x Scoring Champion
At his peak during the early 2000s, Shaquille O’Neal was arguably the most dominant player in NBA history. It didn’t matter which methods opponents threw at him, Shaq ate them up and spit them out like they were nothing more than local YMCA players. Even in his younger days with the Orlando Magic, Shaq would take home a scoring title and lead his team to the NBA Finals while being one of the best players in the NBA.
When he got to the Lakers, that is when the beast was unleashed. With some aid from Kobe Bryant, Shaq would lead the Lakers to the NBA championship three seasons in a row from 2000 thru 2002. During that time, O’Neal averaged 28.6 PPG, 12.4 RPG, and 2.6 BPG. O’Neal would later add a fourth NBA championship with the Miami Heat in 2006. Jokic dominates in his own way as a versatile offensive threat, but when it comes to dominance on both sides of the ball, Shaq still holds a significant advantage over Jokic when we look at entire careers.
Bill Russell
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11x NBA Champion
5x NBA Most Valuable Player
12x All-Star
11x All-NBA Team Selection
1x All-Defensive Team Selection
Bill Russell may have the shortest resume of any player in the top 5 greatest centers in NBA history. It is only that way due to the fact that most individual accolades did not exist for most of his career, including Finals MVP and the All-Defensive Teams. Many acknowledge Russell as one of the greatest defenders and rebounders in NBA history, and rightfully so. Russell is a five-time rebounding champion who averaged 22.5 RPG for his career. He may have never averaged 20.0 PPG in any season, but that is only because he let his defensive game and rebounding take the lead on the court.
Russell is the winningest player in NBA history who led the Celtics to 11 NBA championships in total and eight straight from 1959 thru 1966. He did this all in just 13 seasons, going 11-1 in the NBA Finals for his career. In those eight straight championship runs, Russell would play 100 playoff games and averaged 18.3 PPG and 26.4 RPG over that span. In order for Jokic to catch Russell, he will need to do a whole lot more winning on a team level and add some individual accolades as well.
Wilt Chamberlain
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2x NBA Champion
1x NBA Finals MVP
4x NBA Most Valuable Player
13x All-Star
10x All-NBA Team Selection
2x All-Defensive Team Selection
1x Rookie Of The Year
7x Scoring Champion
As stated earlier, Shaquille O’Neal was one of the most dominant players ever at his peak. The only reason it is not a clear-cut decision for him is because of the existence of Wilt Chamberlain. Over the first seven seasons of his career, there wasn’t an opponent that could stop Chamberlain individually as he went on to set unbreakable NBA records, including 50.4 PPG and 48.5 minutes per game in 1962. He would win seven straight scoring titles between 1960 and 1966, as well as five rebounding titles.
In 1967, Chamberlain would finally open up his game and win his first NBA championship with the Sixers by completely revamping his game. In 1968, he would lead the NBA in total assists with 702, his final season in Philadelphia. With the Lakers from 1969 thru 1973, Chamberlain would help them reach four NBA Finals, winning another NBA title in 1972 and a Finals MVP award with 19.4 PPG and 22.0 RPG. In order for Jokic to be considered on Wilt’s level, he will need to step it up in terms of individual accolades, but we all know how little those mean to Jokic, which may hurt him in the long run.
Hakeem Olajuwon
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2x NBA Champion
2x NBA Finals MVP
1x NBA Most Valuable Player
12x All-Star
12x All-NBA Team Selection
9x All-Defensive Team Selection
2x Defensive Player Of The Year
In many people’s minds, including mine, Hakeem Olajuwon is the greatest defensive player in NBA history. There isn’t a single time in his career so far that you have heard that said about Nikola Jokic. Similar to Jokic in 2021 and 2022, Olajuwon was left without an All-Star teammate alongside him for most of his career. The difference between them is that we watched Olajuwon dominate the competition in 1994 to become one of the few players to win an NBA championship without another all-Star on his team. This year, Jokic joins that list also, but Jamal Murray averaged 26.1 PPG and 7.1 APG on their remarkable playoff run.
I cannot knock Jokic for finally winning while having decent help next to him, but I watched Hakeem take both sides of the ball to a different level. Hakeem embarrassed the likes of David Robinson and Shaq on his second title run in 1995 with a 20.0 PPG scorer in Clyde Drexler beside him as well. Those two championships during the mid-90s for Hakeem hold a bit more weight than Jokic’s first championship but please do not diminish what Jokic has done to get here. Between the difference defensively and Jokic’s resume still needing some work, Olajuwon is still well ahead of the Joker.
Moses Malone And David Robinson Still Have A Slight Edge Over Nikola Jokic
The conversation brings us to two all-time great centers who are on the cusp of being passed by Nikola Jokic with a few more seasons of greatness. Let’s take a look at their resumes and see how they stack up currently and discuss what it would take for Jokic to move past them on the all-time centers’ list.
Moses Malone
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Let’s start with an obvious one in Moses Malone. Malone was a three-time MVP who had one of the greatest runs to an NBA championship in 1983. In his first year with the Sixers, Malone would lead the Sixers to their first championship since 1967. He is also the NBA’s all-time leader in offensive rebounds and a more than solid defender himself, with two All-Defensive Team selections to his name as well.
Technically, Jokic is still an MVP plus a bunch of defensive accolades behind Malone in terms of their careers. If you wish to say that Jokic is a much better offensive player than Malone, I will not argue that but this is about the entire picture and not just one side of the ball. Clearly, Jokic is the better playmaker and I would argue a slightly better scorer as well but not as an overall player just yet.
1x NBA Champion
1x NBA Finals MVP
3x NBA Most Valuable Player
13x All-Star
8x All-NBA Team Selection
2x All-Defensive Team Selection
David Robinson
Credit: RVR Photos-USA TODAY Sports
2x NBA Champion
1x NBA Most Valuable Player
10x All-Star
10x All-NBA Team Selection
8x All-Defensive Team Selection
1x Defensive Player Of The Year
1x Rookie Of The Year
1x Scoring Champion
As for David Robinson, he and Nikola Jokic are much closer in all-time rankings. Robinson is a former NBA MVP and Defensive Player of the Year who won a scoring title in 1994 and a blocks title in 1992. Robinson is also the recipient of two NBA championship rings in 1999 and 2003. The only difference between Jokic and Robinson is that Robinson was never the best player on a championship team, while Jokic was the clear best player on the court in the 2023 NBA Finals.
Jokic could pass Robinson with another championship and Finals MVP which is the clear path for him at this point. Jokic is already ahead of Robinson in terms of where their careers are at 28 years old, but I cannot penalize someone for wanting to finish out their commitment to the United States Navy. Jokic will have to close the gap with Robinson through offensive accolades because at this point I see no way Jokic catches him on the defensive end. If 2022-23 is any indicator, it will not be long before that takes place.
Nikola Jokic Is The 8th Greatest Center In NBA History
Nikola Jokic, at just 28 years old and having just completed his eighth season in the NBA, is already a top 10 center in NBA history comfortably. We already know what he brings to the table offensively. Heck, I would even go as far as to say that Jokic is the most complete offensive center in NBA history already. No player at the center position has been able to see the floor the way Jokic does, nor did they possess the s𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁 to make the reads and passes he does with the ball in his hands. He is efficient and patient in more ways than one, two things, not many big men have had the luxury of saying in their careers.
Where Jokic falls short of the seven players ahead of him is in the defensive department as we have covered extensively already. This isn’t to say that Jokic is a horrible defender by any means, but he is levels below any of the seven players we have already mentioned in that department. A lot of this placement also has to do with time. Jokic is still young and seemingly has plenty of years left to go. During that time, he can easily propel himself into the top three centers’ conversation, especially if he adds more championships or individual awards.
What Happens If Nikola Jokic Wins Another MVP, NBA Championship, And Finals MVP Award?
We do not often operate in the world of hypothetical situations, but we are willing to make an exception to prove a point. If Jokic were able to add another MVP, NBA championship, and Finals MVP award, I think that easily allows him to leapfrog his first two competitors, Moses Malone, and David Robinson. Jokic will have established an already more impressive resume than both of them and prove to have a much larger impact on team success when you consider that Denver’s entire offense runs through him.
That leaves us with the top five centers that we have already discussed. Jokic is fighting an uphill battle when it comes to catching the elite of the elite centers in NBA history. Kareem is pretty much untouchable when it comes to his resume of over 20 years. Jokic is an avid family man who seems hellbent on getting to the end of his career as soon as possible so he can enjoy his wife, daughter, and horses back in Serbia. He may be able to catch Hakeem Olajuwon and Wilt Chamberlain in the near future, but honestly, cracking the top three may be even five to seven years away. This proves one thing. Let us celebrate the tremendous accomplishment that Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets earned in 2023. Let’s also not disrespect the history of the game or Jokic himself by forcing his all-time ranking to be higher when it’s frankly premature at this point.
