When the Nuggets grabbed Nikola Jokic with the 41st pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, he was easy to overlook. He went in the second round during a Taco Bell commercial, and Denver’s track record outside of Carmelo Anthony didn’t exactly scream confidence. But one early read on Jokic ended up looking almost uncanny.
That read came from Nuggets assistant coach Ognjen "Ogi" Stojakovic, who was working in the team’s player development and video department when Jokic arrived. Stojakovic already knew the Serbian big man’s game, and his first impression was strikingly specific.
In an interview with Bruno Feliks at Basketball Network, Stojakovic said Jokic reminded him of Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki, and Pau Gasol all at once.
"First thing when I saw him, in my mind, he was a mix of talent, and I always said it. I said Pau Gasol, Steve Nash, and Dirk Nowitzki when I saw him," Stojakovic said.
He continued, "For me, it was okay, that’s interesting because Steve Nash wasn’t very fast, right? But he ran a lot.
And then he wasn’t very athletic, but he could score. He had all those kinds of different shots that helped him to be kind of great.
Also, a great passer and so on. Pau Gasol again, we know big, skilled.
He could do a little bit of everything. Dirk Nowitzki, again, not an athletic guy, but he was able to score a lot of points."
That instinct has aged remarkably well.
Jokic has built a career that echoes all three. Nash’s name fits because of the passing; Nash led the league in assists five times in 18 seasons and finished at 8.5 assists per game, while Jokic just won his first assist title last year and owns a 7.5 career average. Jokic also led the league in rebounding for the first time in his career last season.
The comparison gets even more interesting when you break down what Jokic does better than the other two. He has become a more productive rebounder than Gasol and a more dangerous scorer than Nowitzki.
Gasol’s top rebounding year came in 2014-15 with the Chicago Bulls, when he averaged 11.8 boards per game. Jokic has topped that in four of his 11 seasons, peaking at 13.8 in 2021-22.
The one difference is that Jokic is not the defender and shot-blocker Gasol was.
Nowitzki’s best scoring season came in 2005-06, when he put up 26.6 points per game. Jokic has gone past that mark three times, including this past season at 27.7 points per game.
For Denver, the takeaway is simple: the Nuggets took a chance on Jokic in the second round and wound up changing the franchise. They also landed an all-time great.
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