LeBron James on Nikola Jokic - “There has not been a more dominant, complete player that I’ve played against.”
Come see me at the local park Bron, you’d be surprised
Can vouch, this dude dropped like 11 points on 5⁄21 shooting with 6 techs in a game at the park the other day
Shoulder checked my 8 year old cousin through a trash can too, nasty stuff, nothing you could do but respect it and try to contain them
Pat Bev enjoying his time off I see
You had me until 6 techs
Pat Bev held himself back against the 8 year old
Said 8 year old cousin here. He lit us up. Game was to 11. The 6 techs were from Initech. Balled at Hoover park in Cupertino. Ball is life!
Sorry I didn’t retaliate to that shoulder check, mammoth is 10 inches shorter but has at least 200 lbs on me, nothing I could do lil bro
All love
Bystander here, saw the whole thing - those guys were balling out - salute
Hi, also born in 2017, we also play in Fremont on Thursdays
I believe Initech rebranded to Initrode in the late 90s, there’s a documentary about this by Mike Judge
Thanks for the lift. I’ve never slam dunked before.
Cable guy? (Though I think he says boost, but could be misremembering)
Hey, he also grabbed two rebounds!
Trying to contain a dude going 5⁄21. Sounds like James Harden
Mammoth isn’t just his Reddit, it’s a name earned on the court and in the locker room.
6 TECHS IN THE PARK LMAO I’M DEAD
And those were just the ones that were called
Mammoth plays dirty as fuck but nobody is gonna step to him realistically
Pick up game techs are legit
Yeah you gotta earn that shit in the park on g
Lol
I’ve seen you bro they have no idea
He clearly hasn’t played against LeBron James smh
LeBron is the only person that can say this, because everyone should be saying this about him.
But it’s gotta be nice for Jokic to hear this from the GOAT himself
Most of these players haven’t played against prime Lebron so they likely wouldn’t answer Lebron.
Right. Most guys who played against prime LeBron have been retired for a while.
and they saying he’s him, sharing f*cking traumas together on podcasts and sh*t
LeSupport Group
Or going too far the other way and trying to make themselves out to be his equal like Pierce lol.
Nah, prime LeBron is like 2009-20
Physically his peak, but his mental and bbiq needed to catch up. I think his overall peak was after the mavs finals loss, from 2012-2018 then that 2020 run
i know everyone talks about his 2018 run as being transcendental offensively, but the motherfucker led BOTH TEAMS in every single major counting stat in a 7 game series against the 73-9 Warriors. what the fuck.
2015 too.
Yah because 2021 is when Solomon Hill ended LeBron’s peak.
Fuck Solomon Hill.
Jokic arguably has to be fair. Not Miami Bron but he was there for everything since
Miami bron had the dpoy level defense so i’d say he’s the complete package
LeBron would still be the best player Jokic has played against
2018 LeBron wasn’t as all-around as 2013 LeBron but is still clearly better than any version of Steph KD or Giannis
2nd Cavs stint LeBron was a better offensive player than Heatles version.
That LeBron knew how to control the entire game.
Miami bron might be peak physicalness but his first 3 years back at Cleveland was his 3rd prime and id argue the highest level of basketball ever played that had the skill, athleticism, and the mind to use it all together. He learned from Spo his ability to get a ball downhill at 260 pounds that no one could stop him. He learned from Spo and their four finals runs how to navigate team defenses and how they would try to force him to do things. Once his cleveland stint started he was starting this trend of entirely using is ability to dominate his man while at the same time watching the defense waiting to help and making the best pass needed. He didn’t create 3 and D but my lord did he push the obsession to surround your star with it when he is abusing individuals and then dishing to the shooters. Peak of basketball on the offensive end while still being dominant on defense. I wouldn’t say dpoy of any year but compared to other offensive greats, he is still top without a defensive limitation.
but most players in NBA history have played against LeBron since he’s been playing for 40 years.
I like that Raptors fans still have LeBronto PTSD lol
That bank shot over OG still wakes me up at night lol.
But then, the respect he showed to Toronto fans is also something that stayed with us (Toronto fans have a massive inferiority complex)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=951RR2pgcCg
Go to the 20sec mark.
Lebron compliments Jokic
This sub: Lebron would destroy Jokic in his prime!!!!
The hivemind of this sub has turned on Jokic big time. That’s how you know he’s made it
Give Wemby a few years and this sub will be saying he’s garbage. As soon as a player starts separating himself from the pack and reaching all time convos the haters start salivating.
I’ve already seen some posts sneering at him after having a few mediocre games. This place can be so miserable sometimes
The Internet is miserable, Reddit is even more saturated with misery and then this sub sticks out even on Reddit for being extremely toxic.
Personally I blame the growth of hot take sports discussion shows coupled with normal internet cynicism.
This place is deadass bad for my mental health during the playoffs
I have to remind myself that Reddit is a hivemind and that normal people aren’t as miserable like this in real life.
They went from sucking jokers dick to turning on him, it’s so funny. I don’t think last years series against OKC helped, he had a games where he stunk. He’s human, it was bound to happen
That was quite possibly the first bad series of his career which is insane given how many playoff series he’s played in.
Series still went to 7. OKC won obviously, but it wasn’t like Jokic shit the bed Harden or Embiid style.
No he didn’t. He was legitimately bad in games 3, 4 and 5 though. But he also practically won us games 1 and 6 by himself through his dominance
The more I use Reddit, the more I realize NBA fans and KPOP fans are the same
Fans of mostly anything in general tbh.
LeBron said it well in this interview, its a what have you done for me lately league
No it’s not?
It’s a Jokic circlejerk here, come on
It is often a Jokic circlejerk but Bucks fans have no room to talk
Giannis has the lowest expectations of any “best player” candidate I’ve ever seen nobody cares if he gets his ass kicked every year as long as he puts up numbers and he’s assumed to play “DPOY level defense” that he hasn’t in years
Jokic has by far the most annoying fanbase on reddit
Actually true, there used to be Jokic glazers everywhere, and now there are more people complaining about Jokic glazers than actual glazers. Kinda like how Shaq was a Jokic fan until he got so good people started putting him in Prime Shaq discussions. Or could just be the inherent urge of sports fans to be contrarian.
They say on the top voted post today with 350 upvotes on their comment. 97% upvoted btw. If you think this is “bad”, I don’t know how’d you categorize Embiid, Harden, or even 2016-19 KD.
Jokic is one of my favourite players to watch but goddamn are his fans annoying (this isn’t directed at you, just in general)
Both statements are true tho lol
If teams are equal absolutely LeBron wins
Jokic could get some wins with a stacked team like KD did though remember that LeBron has been the best player for most of his career and hasn’t won near 50% of rings
Oh absolutely.
Idk about destroy but I do think if there’s a player at their apex that is beating Jokic in the playoffs consistently, prime Bron is one of them.
Both statements are true, LeBron would destroy him in his prime.
Steve Nash specifically said “Offensively”!!! LeBron then said “on the offensive end” Don’t leave that part out!!! He’s definitely not talking about defense or all around on both sides of the ball
Congrats on watching the video in the post
it was necessary context that was missing in the title
I’d say it’s still a quite notable statement given that Curry is also a very offense-first great
This is kind of implying he thinks Jokic is better
Its relevant enough to be in the title don’t know why you’re mad at someone asking for context to be given.
Bro if u want to get Nuggets fans to be so angry just mention defense, they will even bring awful defensive stats
They were saying we are top 3 in defense because they were there for 5 games, theyre 14th now lmao
I mean our two best defenders are out
I wonder who got hurt in our 5th game and who got hurt in our like 10th that could’ve affected such a stat.
Many people don’t watch the vids
congrats on the bitchy tone
Yeah I mean a of people don’t lol
Yall are more defensive than Jokic lol
Post should be deleted/revised for misleading title
jokic could do the funniest thing vs okc this season
It’s the closest comp we have to LeBron vs Steph. The consensus best player is not on the consensus best team.
As long as Giannis doesn’t go join OKC it should be a good rivalry for a few years.
I want Giannis to lose in the finals vs OKC now. Just for the off-season drama
The hardest road
To put KD joining Golden State in perspective, he signed with the Warriors when he was 27 years old.
If Giannis signed with the Thunder in the summer, he’d be 31 years old.
And while Giannis is an all-time great, Durant is much easier to insert into a lineup like the Warriors had, than it would be for Giannis to slot into the current Thunder lineup (it would work obviously, just not as seamlessly as Durant on the Warriors).
So even if Giannis did join the Thunder, he’d be four years older than KD was (tail end of prime vs literal peak) and he’d be a worse fit.
That’s how ridiculous KD to Golden State was.
tbh nowadays it’d be like if Luka lost to OKC in the conference finals then joined them next offseason
I hope he gets revenge for last season
It’d be the most up voted series end post in this subs history
NBA fans on Reddit: “actually, LeBron is wrong.”
It’s only bucks and thunder fans doing this tbf
I think everyone having the same opinion would be boring af so I don’t even mind if people have other players over Jokic. But what bothers me is when they say some of the dumbest, most blatantly ignorant things I’ve heard.
Something about these discussions turn people’s brains into utter mush and some of these people seem like their sole existence in life is to hate on others. Imagine spending your free time going into threads about players you hate specifically just to act like this
My favorite hilariously bad take was “I’ve never seen Jokic do anything impressive.”
Like, sure, I understand people who pick certain stats that just so happen to favor their guy. I get how you can talk about team record or rings. I don’t agree, but I get it… but to say they’ve never seen Jokic do anything impressive? They must not have eyes.
No one who actually watched the clip would disagree with LeBron that Jokic is the most complete offensive player when it comes to passing, shooting and rebounding.
People might disagree that Jokic is the best offensive player, but that’s not what LeBron actually said.
I watched the clip.
He genuinely believes that Jokic is better than prime Kobe and prime Duncan and prime Steph.
And that would be a reasonable position.
Jokic doesn’t have some of the accolades of those players yet because he is not yet done with his career, but in terms of peaks, he has definitely had a better peak than all of those players. At this point, saying peak Jokic isn’t the second best peak of the 21st century behind LeBron is someone who is either incredibly biased against Jokic/Denver or who is just stuck in the past and colored by nostalgia.
Even Lakers/Spurs fans can admit that Jokic is better than prime Kobe and prime Duncan ever were.
That’s not taking away from Kobe/Duncan. It’s just a statement of how good Jokic is.
Bucks and Thunder fans should stop being so insecure.
Nah you can’t criticize LeBron around here without causing a hullabaloo
Good
There are a few things which are worth criticising about LeBron.
2011, wanting spo fired, the china stuff thats just off the top of my head.
Noone is perfect, noone has been and noone will be.
Wanting Spo fired is only worth criticizing with hindsight. He went to the Heat to play under Pat, and then they start the BIG3 season 9-8?? Wouldn’t you want for him to get fired and get the renowned Pat back as a coach? bffr
And the China stuff…he has a lifetime deal with Nike, wth did you expect from him? lol
He knows ball tho
Probably feels that way for sure, since he’s worse now. For as good as Steph was at his peak it’s not like LeBron was ever really concerned that he’d get outplayed in a 7 game series vs Steph.
With all due respect to Joker I don’t think 2016 LeBron would get outplayed by him either
With his Denver nuggets? Or Steph’s GSW? Jokic on GSW with curry replaced for an Andrew Bogut level impact point guard absolutely destroys the cavs. Curry had some stinkers in the finals. Ive never seen Jokic have a true true stinker in the playoffs ever.
Yeah lets act like jokic didnt only take one shot in the second half of a game 7 last year dude
or choke a 20 point lead in a game 7 the year prior…
Suddenly Jokic, the guy who had 1 minute of rest with a garbage roster, was the reason for the choke and not the GM or coach
Can’t even make a physical defense excuse because Steph deals with that regardless lmao
I don’t think so. Steph being so good allows the team to fill in defensively behind him with great wing guards and rim protectors.
Jokic, because he plays centre, automatically means you have to sacrifice rim protection. That’s part of the reason why the best nuggets teams haven’t been as good as the best warriors teams defensively.
The Warriors have had a GOAT level defender in Draymond
Denver haven’t had anyone near that level unless you think Gordon is an all-time defender
And All-Defensive level dudes like Klay and Iggy lol. Hell even KD was in some fringe DPOY conversations those couple years on the Warriors. Steph was the only player who wasn’t at some point an elite defender in that lineup.
I agree that the warriors have done a better job team building. Part of that is luck, another part of that is the type of players that fit with Steph vs those that fit with Jokic. Which is my point. Having a defensively limited but offensively gifted PG is easier to build around than having the same ins a C.
I.e. Having Steph allows you to have a guys like Draymond and Bogut as bigs who are more limited offensively.
Jokic has played with decent defenders like Aaron Gordon and KCP but his teams defensive ceiling will be more limited because hey have average rim protection instead of very good or elite.
Well its a damn good thing Jokic would have DPOY draymond, All Defensive team klay, and iguodala in this theoretical to cover his flaws.
You have the memory of a goldfish since you don’t remember the OKC series this year
He had a few last year. 4-13, 7-22, 8-25. Him and SGA both looked horrible game 3 of OKC/Denver
U must’ve missed that whole series against OKC then when a one legged AG was hard carrying.. Yall really be on here lying ya asses off lmao
Edit: Nuggets fans weird he obviously played like slaw in a few of those game but the great Jokic could never have an off nite like regular ol Steph Curry ig 😂
Down votes turnt to upvotes, the real game watchers showed up lol
Jokic game 2,3 and 7 against okc last year?
When i think of steph bad games in high pressure moments, I think maybe game 5 at Boston, game 1,3 and 7 in 2016 (playing through injury.)
Game 2 2015 finals, game 4 in okc 2016, 2019 game 3 in Houston, game 6 in Toronto.
But the difference is that steph has played in 32 finals games. Nikola jokic has played in 5. We remember stephs bad games because he actually got there in the first place. Before we start saying ridiculous things like jokic is better than steph ever was, let’s remember that steph has been to the finals 6 times and that when steph gets into the playoffs, steph is more likely to make the finals than to not make the finals. (6-4) while nikola jokic is more likely to get bounced in the second round.
Jokic hype can go too far but let’s not pretend like Curry hasn’t had absurdly stacked teams outside of 2022
he shot 9 times in game 7 vs okc and got dogged by 6’5 bald head, and instead of bulldozing through him he tried to flop
Thunder fan talking about flopping is funny
Yeah lets not try forget that bald head was fouling Jokic on every possession , wrestling him , holding him like hes playing NFL. If Foster wasn’t blind and ignored it ( on purpose ) that troll would have been ejected in 1st quarter
They did all that and more to Steph.
Lmao ‘wrestling him as if he’s playing nfl’. 2 months from now we’re gonna say Caruso put Jokic at gunpoint and told him to drop the ball or else in that game 7
I hate both teams but did you watch that series? It was very obvious one team was allowed to play a certain way and the other wasn’t.
Bro he’s 300lbs, he should be able to man handle caruso
Literally last playoffs?
This might be one of the dumbest takes I’ve ever heard
Curry played hurt in the 2016 finals. He was clearly not moving like he did in the regular season.
[removed]
I think there’s a video of KD and Bron in like a limo doing an interview, and he refers to them as the top 2 players. Steph never really was super dominant in series against Bron honestly
In 2017-18 it felt like LeBron and Durant being the top 2 was the consensus
There’s been a lot of revisionist history since 2022 about how close Curry actually was to LeBron in their prime to prime matchups
For sure Curry is the 2nd best player of his era but he’s not really anywhere near LeBron they’re absolutely not 1A and 1B
That was honestly an insane commercial to do if you’re Durant. Joining Curry’s team and then implying that you’re a level above Curry was a bold move
That was actually a commercial but yeah, did happen.
Steph has never been better than Lebron in any high stake games, playoffs and play-in games.
Of course not. Steph is not a complete player
This is just a blatant lie, guy played against prime Paul Pierce.
I agree because it suits my agenda same as yours 🤝
And 2017-2021 Patrick Beverley
The Truth was a really nice baller tbf
Jokic hasn’t left a game because he had to shit, point proven
Fun fact we won that game lol
I know, I watched it on tv when it aired
Lmao people so salty he didnt say their favorite player!
Curry stans can’t handle the fact that just because he has the same number of rings as LeBron doesn’t mean he’s even in the same galaxy as an overall player
I mean, galaxies are very big.
Not in the grand scheme of the entire universe they aren’t!
Man I was watching this video on YouTube that contextualizes size of stuff and it was truly something. Like we know galaxies are minuscule compared to our universe but to see it in a visual form was min-bending. Also saw this thing called corona borealis wall, oof.
Sorry LeBron this isn’t true. The armchair Reddit coaches know he’s actually propped up by advanced stats and his defense is total ass. Something something Jokic insane PR something something
TBF LeBron did say most complete offensive player. The way it’s quoted in this post is a bit misleading.
so jokic’s defense is relevant in this discussion about his offensive game how?
There’s no way people are mad about this right, Joker is one of the greats, that should be known already, it’s completely possible he’s the best player Lebron played against during his career
I think there’s probably some names that could join that discussion, but Jokic should always be one of them
Respect to LeBron, but clearly he forgets BORIS DIAW
Joker was one of the few players where Bron knew he was helpless to stop even when he turned it on defensively. Not many players have had Bron in awe like joker did in those nugggets’s series
LeBron was also 38 and 39 in those two series
he was that old the series before and made it to the WCF.
I think they were saying that prime LeBron would have been the best equipped player to slow Jokic down defensively, which we never really got to see
40 year old Lebron guarded Jokic very well in the Olympics
Embiid and AD were the primary defenders on jokic. Bron guarded him for a handful of possessions. He would never be asked to be the primary cover on jokic
LeBron now knows what it feels like to other players when he used to go against them but twice as good lol
You saying jokic or lebron are twice as good?
Read that dudes comment twice - no idea what he’s talking about or what’s funny
Nah my fault I worded it weird. I was stating LeBron saying joker is the most complete dominant player he’s ever played is so ironic, because that’s exactly how players looked at Bron when he played against them. Only thing is Bron was twice as good which is even crazier.
Bron is twice as good as Jokic..?
Well prime Lebron was also a defensive beast so in that sense you could say twice as good in a way
Almost yea. In playoffs jokic from age 24 to now rTS% is 4.9%, lebron from 24-35 years old is 7.2%. Thats just offensively, with lebron is also light years better defensively
World is falling for so many haters 😂😭
bro he makes the game look easy it pisses me off
Jokic to LA rumors confirmed.
Only Jokic could make Bronny a league average player
Bron to Denver
Can’t be more through. He does everything with an efficiency that I’ve never seen before. Some levels above any other center.
BTW Steve Nash has a legendary collection of football jerseys.
The GOAT praises the GOAT after him, eventhough he still plays.
You didn’t see this support for LeBron James. If anything it was the opposite.
Whatever you think of him, you can’t say he’s not real.
They were pretty clear that it was “offensive” player, they didnt say anything about the defensive end.
There is a part of Jokic’s offense that is not complete or not really that good, which is getting to the line
Because of arbitrary rules that are selectively enforced based on a player’s size.
White Shaq
The timing is crazy, i was grilled by this sub two days ago for saying Stan Van Gunky’s take wasn’t completely out of pocket. Now Lebron James is saying the same thing.
You don’t have to agree with this take but Jokic is a x3 MVP with six straight seasons of being the best player in the world, he’s doing things nobody has ever seen let alone done before with a basketball, he will be put into some uncomfortable all-time discussions whether you like it or not.
LeCompliment
CompLeMent
Folk in here frothing at the mouth about this.
As soon as one of if not the greatest player of all time heard his name he rolled his eyes at how good he is.. But y’all know better than
I think part of the reason NBA viewership is struggling is because the league itself and the media eco-system around it seems to want to be in complete denial about how good Jokic is. Like con-men, they all want to promote other players when the gap between Jokic and the GOAT (whether it be MJ or Lebron) is currently smaller than the gap between Jokic and any other player in the NBA today.
It makes the league (and the media and the officiating) look bad.
More like Jokics game and personality does not appeal to the average/casual basketball enjoyer the same way LeBron/Curry/Kobe/Shaq did for decades.
this was only true before the title, Jokic has been top 5 is social media impressions for the past 3 years or so, he’s above edwards, tatum, and 99.99% of stars by a pretty wide margin. his horse race clip from over the summer was probably the most popular post of bleacher report / espn socials outside of the luka trade.
Jokic has a schtick that people can latch on to, “he doesn’t care and he likes horses” dominates the discourse for casual fans after winning the ring. Not trying to start a whole thing but you can’t really say the same about SGA/Tatum after their respective runs, where the former left the Finals spotlight with a kinda negative association attached to him.
Underrating SGA here imo
It’s a Denver fan
Nobody in 20 years is gonna have SGA in the same league as Jokic.
Jokic is in the GOAT conversation from a passing perspective, all time leader in advanced metrics career wise, the best floor raiser in history, among other things.
SGA is a key element in a greatly constructed team, but anyone with eyes knows SGA has absolutely no credible argument to be better than Jokic. AINEC.
This is just the kind of trash that ESPN and the league narrative builds for business purposes.
I’d like to see Jokic do more in the playoffs before we put him in the GOAT debate. I watched every second of their playoff series last year and nothing about Jokic’s performance separated himself from SGA.
the best thing is, SGA is beating Jokic in real advanced metrics rn
I don’t think Denver fans can live with that info.
Jokic is the most media glazed player in the league, by far
NBA ratings are up BIG!! Highest in 15 years! What are you talking about?
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/47039682/nba-sees-highest-opening-month-viewership-15-years
Except NBA viewership is not struggling at all with the new media deals..
the gap between Jokic and the GOAT (whether it be MJ or Lebron) is currently smaller than the gap between Jokic and any other player in the NBA today.
You cannot be serious
Denial? About Jokic? Have you been watching any NBA-related media over the last 4 years? They haven’t gone a second without being full-on giga fans of Jokic and putting him in all-time conversations. We just had a post about SVG calling Jokic the best player ever.
Jokic offensively has cleared Steph like I’m confused when people compare them to who had a higher offensive peak like Jokic every year isn’t better than before. I can see how nostalgia plays into it but Jokic for 5 years now has shown through out that there is still a higher level to what he is doing, he can do everything Steph can do. Yea the 3pt shooting isn’t as good but hes shooting over 60 percent on two’s and bc gravity seems to be such a big thing in this debate Jokic gravity is real and you can say its better than Steph’s or close to it. Im just saying for offesinve players Jokic gotta be top 5.
I don’t understand LeBron haters. He’s given so much to this sport. He’s also humble and builds up everyone around him. Insane the hate he gets.
Everyone chill the fuck out!!
This is all the proof you need
when Jokic sweeps you in the Conference Finals and then knocks you out in 5 games in the following year .. and LeBron must be thinking that they had good chances cause AD seemed like the only player that could stop him .. then yea i get why LeBron has so much respect for him
especially the WCF loss .. those Lakers would’ve beaten Miami so it must be frustrating to see how Jokic dismantled and took their titles chances away in 4-0 sweep