Only Jokic could throw this pass.
At a certain point, it became too much of an understatement to simply call Stephen Curry “the best shooter ever” because it failed to capture the totality of his brilliance. The same can be said for labeling Nikola Jokic as the “best passing man big man ever,” and stopping there. He’s become too accomplished, too dominant to *only* talk about his passing and how it compares to other centers. In reality, he’s one of the very best passers in league history, and also so much more than that.
The present and the future of the NBA were on display Tuesday night when the Denver Nuggets took on the San Antonio Spurs. Jokic is the best player in the world at the moment. Victor Wembanyama seems destined to grab that title eventually. Right now, it’s still not close.
The Nuggets beat the Spurs, 110-105, behind a masterful Jokic performance. Denver’s star big man finished with 42 points, 16 rebounds, and six assists in the win. He also threw one of the best passes you will ever see.
In the third quarter, Jokic threw a full court pass that perfectly hit teammate Justin Holiday at the opposite corner. Holiday swished the shot for his only three-point make of the night. Watch the clip here:
It’s hard for Jokic to truly stun us with a great pass at this point because we’ve seen him throw so many of them, but this one is special. That’s a 94-foot dart, on the money, exactly where Holiday wanted it. Is any other player alive throwing and completing that pass? It doesn’t feel like it. This is a true Jokic special.
The fact that Jokic brought out his best effort to defeat the Spurs’ otherwordly rookie is perhaps the best evidence yet of how freaky Wembanyama is. Jokic is at the peak of his powers, ramping up for a shot at back-to-back championship runs, and Wemby pushed him to be his very best to win a late regular season game.
We can’t wait to watch these two play again next year. But right now, it’s Jokic season.
