The door guarding the "best player in the world" title has been held firmly closed for a while. Nikola Jokic has long guarded the crown and carried the torch as the "de facto" best player in the NBA and the world, but poor recent play and a continued world-class run from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has led some to say that the door hasn't just been burst open by Shai, but that he's stolen the crown from Jokic, too.
"The Zach Lowe Show" featured guest John Hollinger, who was offering his thoughts on the best player in the world. And in another dagger delivered this week, Shai's taken that crown from the Joker as well. "The door is open," Zach Lowe said.
Hollinger actually thinks SGA is now the rightful wearer of the best player crown. Hollinger said, "Right now, I think you have to give it to him," when asked by Lowe who he thought the best player in the world is. "I think he has a great case for it," said Hollinger
But it won't be SGA's crown for long, or Jokic's, according to Hollinger. He thinks Victor Wembanyama is going to surpass them both as soon as next season. Wemby is amazingly talented on offense, and he's a game-changer on defense. But Nuggets fans aren't willing to let the crown slip away from Jokic just yet.
Jokic can get his throne back if the Nuggets win it all
The Nuggets are currently in the sixth position in the Western Conference standings, and perilously close to the disaster level. The play-in game seventh seed sits only one game below, held by the Suns.
The Nuggets have lost nine of their last 15. They're in a tailspin. Jokic hasn't looked like himself at times, but if he leads the Nuggets back to the finals and wins another championship, in a season the Nuggets have faced more adversity than they ever have with him, then he should keep that crown a little longer, because he's still the Joker.
Jokic's numbers are better than ever
Despite the wrist injury and the clutch time turnovers, Jokic's still having the most efficient season of his career. He's sporting a league-leading and career-high 33.6 Player Efficiency Rating, or PER, which he's the all-time leader of. And he's doing it while simultaneously leading the league in True Shooting percentage, at 68.1%. Plus, he leads the league in assists and rebounds.
He's still the Joker. The Nuggets just haven't been the Nuggets in the clutch. They're just 16-17 in clutch games, or games within five points with under five minutes left to play.
If the ball bounces differently a couple of times or Jamal Murray hits his free throws in a couple of the clutch losses, the Nuggets are sitting pretty, challenging for the two-seed with Wemby and the Spurs.
So it's not like the Joker has lost anything. Shai and Wemby are just great players and doing things on a team that's a bit better this year. But if the Joker beats them and gets title number two, the crown remains his for at least one more year.