Former Chicago Bulls great Toni Kukoc had a facepalming hot take this week when he claimed Nikola Jokic is still not the best NBA player that has come out of Eastern Europe.
Over the last 20 years, the influence of players from Europe has never been stronger in the NBA. Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic are two of the very best players in the game today and are viewed as top contenders to win MVP in 2024. The two superstars are the latest generation of a trend that originally began in the early 1990s.
- Nikola Jokic stats (2023): 26.1 PPG, 12.2 RPG, 8.9 APG, 1.3 SPG, 0.9 SPG, 34% 3PT
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Players like Drazen Petrovic, Vlade Divac, Arvydas Sabonis, and Detlef Schrempf are the players that showed Europeans can be stars in the league and opened up the avenues that players from the region use to reach the league today. However, for as good as those players were, many around the game would say Jokic has surpassed those men and taken what Balkan basketball greats can do in the game to new levels.
Well, that is except for former Bulls star Toni Kukoc. The Croatian was among those early Eastern European NBA pioneers and he confusingly believes the two-time NBA MVP who took the Denver Nuggets to their first championship last year is not the best player to come out of his region of the globe.
Toni Kukoc claims Nikola Jokic not yet as good as Vlade Divac
“Despite the statistics, Jokic isn’t at the level of Divac and Dino [Radja] in the center position,” Kukoc told Sporski Zurnal. “Thirty years ago, Divac surprised America with the way he handled the ball while being this tall. Radja when it comes to how he could catch the ball under the basket and reach the other side of the court to score … Jokić has improved a lot and can improve his game a lot.”
Divac was a Hall-of-Fame player and was key part of some really good Sacramento Kings teams in the early 2000s. While Radja only played four seasons in the league. While both are revered in Europe, neither are anywhere in the same stratusphere of Jokic.
- Nikola Jokic contract: 5 years, $276 million
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“Joker” is averaging 10 more points, two more rebounds, four more assists, and is shooting 11% better from three, a whopping 13% better from the line and shoots 6% better from the field than Divac. That is just the statistical difference and before factoring Nikola Jokic’s shockingly good ball handling, floor vision, and unlimited range.