Nikola Jokic has a good chance to win his fourth regular season MVP award going into these playoffs. Only five players in NBA history have accomplished this feat of winning four or more MVP awards: Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain and LeBron James. Despite Jokic potentially entering this elite list, Lou Williams, the former Lakers player, feels we need to hold off on ranking him as a Top-10 player of all time.
In the latest episode of FanDuel’s ‘Run It Back’ show, Williams expressed his feelings on whether Jokic’s career will warrant his name in the same discussion as the top-10 NBA players of all time. Williams compared his situation to Russell Westbrook and felt that it would be an injustice to him if Jokic makes the list after matching his achievement.
When asked about his feelings on Jokic averaging a triple-double this season, Williams said, “It’s unbelievable, but we didn’t make this argument for Russell Westbrook when he was doing this. When Russell Westbrook was averaging a triple-double for two or three seasons… even had a 60-20-20 game, we didn’t make this argument for Russell Westbrook as a top-10 player of all time. He’s on an unbelievable run right now, but let’s see what the totality of his career turns into. He’s a one-time champion, two-time MVP, had a great opportunity to get another one, but let’s see what happens after this.”
After correcting himself as Jokic is a three-time MVP, Williams further added, “We didn’t make an argument like this for Westbrook when he was on a run like this. Now Jokic is different, don’t get me wrong, I understand that this is a completely different scenario, but we gotta relax with guys of steel in the primes of their career, let’s see what else happens. ‘Knock on wood’ if he goes out there and puts up five or six duds in a row of seasons, we’re not gonna say this anymore. So you got to allow guys to be who they are and allow the totality of their careers to pan out and see what happens.”
While Williams is right to claim that Russell Westbrook was not put in the same discussion when he was averaging a triple-double in multiple seasons, he fails to acknowledge that Westbrook did not win a championship when he reached this accomplishment in his career. In the 2022-23 season, Jokic missed the mark on averaging a triple-double in the season by just 0.2 assists per game.
He averaged 24.5 points, 11.8 rebounds, and 9.8 assists in 69 games played in 2022-23. He was selected to play in his fifth All-Star Game. He also won his first Finals MVP award and his first NBA championship in that season. Therefore, Jokic was able to convert his numbers into winning basketball. Whereas in all three seasons where he averaged a triple-double with the Thunder, he was eliminated in the first round of the Playoffs. Moreover, when he went to the Wizards and repeated that accomplishment for the fourth time, he was once again eliminated in the first round of the Playoffs.
Therefore, Williams is flawed in comparing the situations. However, he is right in implying that Jokic has not yet passed the likes of Shaquille O’Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Russell, and Wilt Chamberlain to enter the discussion on the Top-10 players of all time. That does not mean he won’t do it in the future
