How Nikola Jokic can elevate to a higher plane of existence on Thursday

There aren’t many accolades and acheiveements in the world of basketball that Nikola Jokic hasn’t conquered. He’s won three NBA MVP awards and has a Finals MVP trophy as well. His legacy is cemented as one of the game’s all-time greats before he even turns 30 years old.

He certainly still has time to add to his trophy case and strengthen his legacy, but realistically, even if he retired from basketball right now he’d be a sure fire first ballot Hall of Famer and would have a strong case to be one of the greatest 25 basketball players who ever lived (at least).

Jokic has the chance to shock the world and lead Serbia to victory over Team USA

But if Jokic can somehow lead his country of Serbia to a victory over Team USA in the semifinals of the Olympics on Thursday, he would enter a whole new stratosphere. The United States team is going for their fifth straight Olympic gold medal and this year’s team is arguably the best ever assembled.

The team is littered with NBA superstars and is led by some of the best players in basketball history, many still in their primes. Since the USA started sending NBA players to the Olympics in 1992, they’ve wong gold every year except for 2004 - when they took home bronze.

The USA are currently 16.5 point favorites to beat Serbia and -1650 to win the game. They are the massive, -700 favorites to win the gold medal. This is a tall task for Serbia, to say the least. But thanks to Nikola Jokic, the impossible task just seems unlikely.

Even with all the talent on Team USA, Jokic will be the best player on the court. When they lost to the US in group play, Serbia was even on the scoreboard in Jokic’s 31 minutes but lost by 26 in the 9 minutes he sat.

If Jokic leads Serbia to a gold medal, he becomes a top 10 player of all time

They’ll need a herculean effort out of Jokic and he’ll have to play nearly any minute to give his team a shot, but he knows that’s what it will take. He’s going to leave it all out there and empty the tank completely. And if he can somehow pull it off, he’ll reach a status of near immortality.

This would truly be one of the most impressive upsets in the history of basketball; one that may not be matched for many years. And because of Jokic, it really feels like there’s a chance. Sure, Team USA will likely win, and it could be by a lot. 

There would be no shame in that for Jokic and it wouldn’t put the slightest damper on his basketball resume. But if he wins? The conversation around Jokic would have to go up to even another level and he’d have to be mentioned in the class of players just below the GOAT conversation.

Credible top 5 all-time arguments could be made for Jokic and it would pave the way for him to possibly end his career with a legitimate GOAT argument himself. Nothing is impossible when it involves the Joker, and if he can shock the world on Thurdsay, get ready for everything to change.