Prompted by the probing interviewer known as “Curious Mike” in a rare podcast appearance made public this week, Nikola Jokic still politely swerved away from giving a straight answer to hot take television’s favorite question.
But as Jokic pondered the options for his current top-five players in the NBA (excluding himself, of course), the names that reflexively occurred to him were at minimum a telling reminder of the basketball generation he recognizes as a forebearer to the rest. Kevin Durant and LeBron James were two of the first four players he floated to teammate Michael Porter Jr. in his non-answer.