Denver Nuggets' star Nikola Jokic has reached the historic status of Larry Bird and Magic Johnson in the eyes of NBA legend Bill Simmons, and for good reason.
Jokic is one of the best players in the NBA today, and there should be no objection to that.
Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets took a step into the NBA playoffs on Thursday night local time after beating the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 3 on the road.
The Lakers had a few players who showed competitiveness in every game, but they didn't come out on top, and instead the solid Nuggets led the series 3-0.
Jokic is one of the best players in the NBA today, and as he tries to add more accolades to the playoffs, it looks like LeBron James, who calls himself the best player in NBA history, is about to be a stepping stone on Jokic's path to success.
In G3, the Nuggets defeated the Lakers 112-105, and Nikola Jokic once again played well. He finished with 24 points on 13-9 shooting, added 15 rebounds and nine assists, and was truly efficient and versatile.
Denver won the championship last season, and now they are trying to defend their title. After the G3 victory, they are only one win away from advancing to the next round, and I wonder if LeBron James will let the Nuggets sweep again.
In the NBA, there will always be arguments about who is the best player in the league.
Nikola Jokic is certainly one of them at the moment, but there is more controversy about his place among the greatest players of all time.
No, Bill Simmons recently spoke about the debate on the Bill Simmons podcast and compared Jokic to Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, which are the elite at the historical level.
"Denver always kept their structure, they never got affected, they never played at a different pace, they always were like 'we're the Nuggets, we're going to fix this,'" Simmons said.
"They have one of the greatest game breakers in history. For me, he's now at the Bird, Magic level, and now it's just about filling in the resume and getting the actual resume to the level of those guys, but I don't see much of a difference in the impact between him and these two. ”
One thing to say, Jokic's historical status is so optimistic, it can be said that it has suppressed LeBron James in recent years and led the team to sweep the Lakers in the playoffs.
Jokic has a chance to improve his resume in the playoffs, and the Nuggets are once again one of the strongest teams in the NBA, having performed well in the first round of the playoffs, and another championship ring will surely add to Jokic's resume.
Will the Nuggets win a championship this season?
The Nuggets are trying to win two consecutive NBA championships, but it won't be easy. They lead at second-best odds behind the Boston Celtics, who have been the best in the league this season, but Denver is not the No. 1 seed in the West.
The Western Conference has been extremely competitive this season, and Denver will face many formidable opponents.
The Nuggets have one advantage over their rivals in the West, and that is that they have Nikola Jokic. For other teams, he is a difficult person to stop and a big reason for their success.
Another factor is their playoff journey last season, and this team has experience in the playoffs and they know how to win on the biggest stage, which is very important at this time.
The Nuggets are on the verge of advancing to the next round, and unless the Lakers can pull off a historic comeback, it will be exciting to watch this team fight for another title.