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James Worthy was a pretty great player in his own right, considering he’s a Basketball Hall of Fame inductee. When you factor in he played with all-time greats like Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Magic Johnson, it’s hard to argue that he doesn’t know excellence.
Recently, James Worthy was asked about Denver Nuggets superstar center Nikola Jokić. He claims that Jokic is underappreciated, and compared him to some all-time greats.
While sitting on a panel on Spectrum Sportsnet out of Los Angeles following the Nuggets’ game 1 win over the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round of the Western Conference Playoffs, he had this to say.
James Worthy on greatness of Jokic:
“To me Jokic is Magic Johnson & Kareem on the floor at the same time.”
He’s been ILLmatic since 2020-21 yet goobers like @GilsArenaShow @getnickwright spew nonsense like “He’s worst MVP of last 40yrs” among many other embarrassing Joker takes. pic.twitter.com/ikJXWO5zS1— SportsComedyRap (@SuperDopeHipHop) April 21, 2024
“To me, he’s Magic and Kareem on the floor at the same time. He’s a guard, he makes great decisions, helluva passer. nd then when he wants to be Kareem, he goes down and dominates. He’s a special player that does a lot of things and your antennas have to be up,” he said.
He’s got a point! We’ve really never seen a player in the history of the game who can dominate as a post scorer and a passer like Nikola Jokić. He’s about to win his third MVP in four years, and yet he’s still somehow underappreciated.
The only players to win the MVP three times are Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, LeBron James, Bill Russell, and Moses Malone. That’s a pretty exclusive list that Nikola Jokić is about to join.
This season, Nikola Jokić put up 26.4 points per game, 12.4 rebounds, and 9.o assists per game on great shooting splits. He truly is a combination of Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.