There will come a time when we will have to look back and put into perspective the career of Nikola Jokic. That day, we will really see the enormous achievements that the Serbian is achieving. The problem, in a positive sense, is that he still has several years to continue knocking down milestones and growing in what will one day be a legendary career.
In his last game with the Nuggets, Jokic put another stone in the path that at the moment leads him to be the best player on the planet, and that already places him as one of the best ever. The ‘Joker‘ left behind none other than Allen Iverson and Michael Jordan, which, said like that seems easy, but you only have to analyze the two phenomena.
Jokic is already with 5,636 assists in his career, which places him in the 51st place of all time tied with Chauncey Billups. In his career towards the top 50, first, and somewhat higher, the Nuggets player will star in historical facts.
One will be when, within 24 basket passes (just two and a half games for him), he surpasses Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (50th with 5,660). It’s another big name in history, but at that moment, the ‘Joker‘ will be the center with the most assists of all time, with only point guards, shooting guards and forwards ahead of him.
But 35 assists ahead of Abdul-Jabbar is Larry Bird and, once Jokic surpasses the Celtics legend, the Serbian’s career totals in basketball’s five major statistics (points, assists, rebounds, steals and blocks) will only be comparable to those of LeBron James
At the rate at which Jokic accumulates assists, and without injuries, it is possible that this year we will see him climbing to the top 40, positions 38 or 39, even threatening players such as Jerry West (37th, 6,238) or Kobe Bryant (36th, 6,306). It is not surprising that, at the end of the center’s career, he is among the top 10 in this ranking. Obviously the 15,806 assists of leader John Stockton is an almost insurmountable barrier for anyone.
In addition to the assists standings, Jokic is 109th on the all-time scoring list (16,881) and 71st in rebounds (8,423). His career averages to date are 22 points, 11 rebounds and 7.3 assists in the 768 games he has played.
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