4 Players Who Are Changing the NBA As We Know It
Nikola Jokic
Next to Towns, Jokic is one of the younger breakout stars of the NBA season. He's 21, but the Serbian-born player will be 22 by season's end.
Serbia, you said? Yeah, that makes three out of four for the internationals, so go ahead and chalk up another win for the world. Jokic, with a shorter 6'10" form, is still of the new hybrid big man variety. As a 250-pound center, he shouldn't be doing what he's doing on the basketball court.
In 40 contests and 26 starts with the Denver Nuggets, the one they call Joker is scoring 15.2 points, grabbing 8.3 rebounds, and dishing 3.9 assists in 25.8 minutes per game. That's amounted to a total of 5.0 win shares from a rate of .234 per 48 minutes -- the highest of all four players, even Antetokounmpo.
Jokic has just been that productive but also uber-efficient in a log-jammed frontcourt in Denver. His PER of 25.9 is also second to The Greek Freak by virtue of his exclusive advanced numbers.
| Advanced | eFG% | USG% | AST% | REB% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nikola Jokic | 61.9% | 22.2% | 24.9% | 17.9% |
As our own Brandon Gdula pointed out, since we started tracking those numbers, no one has ever maintained those marks for the entirety of an NBA season. Not bad for a second-round pick, huh?
As you attempt to wrap your head around Jokic's ridiculous sophomore season, remember that this man is 6'10" and has played 90% of his minutes from the center position, according to Basketball Reference. Versus Embiid and Towns, Jokic is truly revolutionizing the position on the offensive end. He doesn't excel defensively, but he's averaging 5.4 assists per 36 minutes of play.
Only recently has Jokic been handed the reins to the Nuggets' offense and the franchise, so it's possible that we have yet to see the best Jokic has to offer this year. Only time will tell whether this will all be more believable -- not just for now but for Jokic's future. At this very moment, it looks as bright as any 21-year-old I know.
