Nikola Jokic finally addressed the behind-the-back dart that had the basketball world buzzing, and he didn’t exactly downplay it. The Nuggets star called the preseason whip to Cam Johnson “Probably was the best pass I ever passed in my NBA career,” adding, “I just saw the window, and why not? It happens to be a good pass.”
That play has already taken on a life of its own inside Denver, especially with Aaron Gordon in full praise mode. Gordon said the move wasn’t just about the flash of it - it was Jokic reading the defense and killing the original action on the fly. The play was supposed to lead to a post-up for DeMar DeRozan, but Jokic saw something else and turned it into a jaw-dropper.
“It wasn’t necessarily the pass that amazed me,” Gordon said. “Obviously, it was an amazing pass.
But it was his ability to read the defense. So he broke the play off.
The play wasn’t designed for him to catch the ball there. And he took it upon himself, because he saw something.
And what he saw was a behind-the-back, cross-court pass under the basket. Which is [freaking] ridiculous.”
Gordon didn’t stop there. He put the pass in rare company and said it belongs in the top tier of all-time highlights.
Nikola Jokic with a behind the back pass along the baseline 👀 pic.twitter.com/GO45IXxbnF
— Kyle Ingram (@SnapshotKyle) October 4, 2026
“Top-10, top-five pass of all time,” Gordon said. People “thought I was glazing,” he added. “And sure enough, it went viral.”
He also stacked it up against another absurd Jokic assist - the 70-foot inbound alley-oop he finished in Memphis three years ago - and gave this latest one the edge, even if only by a hair.
“Cameras couldn’t even catch it,” Gordon recalled. “It’s tough.
I think this one beats it. Narrowly.
I just think the three-quarter court alley-oop gets so slept on. You can’t even do that in videogames.”
The reaction wasn’t limited to players. Nuggets coach David Adelman called it “One of the best passes ever,” and said the replay made him do a double take.
“To be honest, live, I didn’t realize just the angle of it. So when I watched it on tape, I almost fell over.
… I’ve been lucky. I’ve seen Magic (Johnson) play and (Larry) Bird and all those guys, and you see things that they do and how they see it before it happens.
All those things. They know the rotation.
They know the defense they’re playing against. But Nikola is a whole other thing.
… This is new.”
Cam Johnson even tried to recreate the pass at practice a few days after the preseason game, a fitting sign of how quickly Jokic’s latest masterpiece had spread through the Nuggets locker room.
Denver’s preseason continues Wednesday against the LA Clippers.
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