Former top 2 NBA draft pick with crazy hate for Nikola Jokic, calls 3rd MVP "a joke"

There have been a lot of crazy things said in the media and on social media about the best basketball player in the world, Nikola Jokic since the Nuggets got eliminated from the playoffs by the Timberwolves. But most of the negative discourse seems to come from people who are trolling, lack credibility, lack objectivity, or some combination.

So it was bizarre and a bit baffling to see long-time NBA veteran, recent NBA assistant coach, and the #2 overall pick in the 2010 draft Evan Turner throwing shade at Jokic. It began on Sunday night as the Nuggets were getting eliminated from the playoffs when Turner tweeted out: “I sound like a hater but I don't wanna see Jokic play another game”. 

When pressed on the social media app, Turner replied, "It’s like watching baseball”. While these seemed like odd comments in the moment (is that supposed to be an insult?), they seemed to be mostly harmless, if not strange thoughts for someone who cohosts a major basketball podcast.

But on said podcast, Point Forward, which Turner hosts with former NBA champion Andre Iguodala, Turner tried going into more detail to explain his comments, but somehow sounded even more ridiculous.

Turner wasn’t able to explain his baseball analogy very well, then used a tired trope of propping up players from his own era to diminish Jokic. He made a strange argument about Marc Gasol being better than Jokic if he had been fully allowed to be himself then said that Dwight Howard was able to shut down the Joker and was the better big man.

To top it off, Turner closed the show by saying that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander not winning the MVP Award this year over Jokic was “a joke” and even went on to say that guys like Luka Doncic and Jayson Tatum were more deserving.

Even after listening to the explanation, I’m not sure what Turner was trying to say and what his actual reasons are for not wanting to watch Jokic play or thinking his play is like watching baseball. He sounds like a bitter ex-player trying to make a splash with a hot take, and one who clearly has some strong personal disdain for Nikola Jokic.