Why they keep doing this, I may never understand. But there’s something about Nikola Jokic, his game, and his personality that turns people into fools. Of course, to an extent, it happens with all great athletes. They get so good and famous that they become polarizing and people try to poke holes and tear them down.
Still, it seems like it happens more than usual with Jokic and as he further separates himself from his peers, the noise only gets louder. Perhaps it’s a ploy for engagement during this era of hot takes we live in. Maybe slandering Jokic by saying ridiculous things leads to ratings and pageviews and all those other things.
That has to be the answer here, because why else would basketball players and analysts spew anti-Joker rhetoric? Jokic is dominating the NBA in a way we’ve never seen and it’s making people uncomfortable. They can’t come to terms with what they are watching, so they choose to hate on what they can’t understand.
Just in the last few months, we’ve seen current star players like Anthony Edwards and Jalen Brunson take some cheap shots at Jokic. And we’ve seen former players like Dwyane Wade question the big man’s greatness. It makes no sense.
Lou Williams questions the necessity of Jokic’s stats
But yet it continues to happen. Lou Williams became the latest former NBA star to take some shots at Jokic on the Run it Back Podcast. Williams, the former 3x winner of the NBA’s 6th Man of the Year Award, co-hosts the show with Michelle Beadle and Chandler Parsons on Fanduel TV.
On a recent episode, the topic of MVP was being debated and Lou Will had some absurd things to say about Jokic. He appeared to argue that his only knock on Jokic is that he’s putting up his numbers out of necessity.
He said that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander puts up his stats in the flow of the game and the rest of his team is eating, but the Nuggets have no help so Jokic has to go out and put up monster numbers for them to have a chance.
Now, how this is supposed to be a knock on Jokic is absolutely beyond me, but that’s what Williams was trying to argue. His co-hosts both seemed rightfully baffled and were wondering why this argument shouldn’t actually be in Jokic’s favor.
It was a bizarre segment and just shows another example of people hating on Jokic for no reason and with no merit. We’ve seen what the Nuggets look like with Joker, the fact that he has dragged them to a 27-17 record and has them right in the mix for homecourt advantage in the playoffs is preposterous.
But that’s how good he has been. This week it’s that his numbers are a necessity, next week I’m sure it will be some other nonsensical take. I’d love for everyone to give Jokic his flowers and appreciate what he’s doing, but I don’t think that day is coming. All we can do is keep fighting the good fight and witnessing greatness on a near-nightly basis.