Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokić, who has won three of the NBA’s past four MVP awards, is enjoying the best statistical season of his career. He is on pace to become the first center to average a triple-double and the first player ever to rank top 10 in points, rebounds, assists and steals per game in the same season.
“Obviously,” Jokić said last month, “I think I’m playing the best basketball of my life.”
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It is the sort of season that will force the MVP voting panel to reckon with possible fatigue. Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the biggest threat to Jokić joining Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Russell, Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain and LeBron James as the sixth player to win a fourth MVP.
There is little statistical argument for Gilgeous-Alexander, whose 32.7 points per game lead the league. SGA is scoring far less efficiently than Jokić while averaging significantly fewer assists and rebounds.
It is wild that Gilgeous-Alexander’s statistics, which mark the 24th-best Player Efficiency Rating in NBA history (30.7), per Basketball Reference, pale in comparison. But Jokić’s PER (32.2) is the second-highest ever, trailing only his own 2021-22 campaign (32.9), when he won his second consecutive MVP award.
Which begs the question: Is Nikola Jokić enjoying the greatest statistical regular season in history?
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We searched far and wide — sorting through the most impressive advanced statistical campaigns of the best players in NBA history — to find the other greatest statistical regular seasons ever and narrowed the list to six: Chamberlain’s 1961-62 season, Jordan’s 1987-88 season, James’ 2008-09 season, Stephen Curry’s 2015-16 season, Giannis Antetokounmpo’s 2021-22 season and Joel Embiid’s 2022-23 season.
That list covers a lot of ground. It crosses every positional group (guards, swings and bigs) twice. It is, perhaps, overrepresented by the modern era, though the current style of play in the 3-point era — high usage, high efficiency and fast pace — is a breeding ground for incredibly productive statistical seasons.
To wit, Jokić, Chamberlain, Antetokounmpo, Jordan, James, Curry and Embiid have combined to produce 22 of the 24 highest single-season PERs in history. Gilgeous-Alexander and Anthony Davis are the only other players to crack that list. And those aforementioned seasons represent each player’s highest PER.
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We understand that advanced statistics are not an exact science. We should also not discredit a statistic that yielded the two seasons that immediately jump to mind when we are discussing history’s greatest — the campaigns in which Chamberlain averaged 50 points per game and Jordan won both MVP and DPOY.
We had to trim the list somehow. Apologies to Oscar Robertson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, David Robinson, Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden. Each won MVPs. Each produced incredible statistical seasons. None of them deserved to crack this list of six.
Let Jokić take on the rest, one by one.
(Stefan Milic/Yahoo Sports Illustration)
Joel Embiid, 2022-23 vs. Nikola Jokić, 2024-25
In retrospect — and in real time — Jokić deserved the MVP award in 2023. He scored more efficiently, averaged more rebounds, assists and steals, and edged Embiid in most advanced statistical categories.
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And Jokić is better this season in every regard than he was two years ago.
In addition to a slight advantage in efficiency, Jokić’s 29.8 points and 10.2 assists have yielded 53.7 points per game for the Nuggets this season. Two years ago, when Embiid secured his MVP, his 33.1 points and 4.2 assists produced 43.7 points per game. If my math is right that is a difference of 10 points a night.
Advantage: Jokić
Giannis Antetokounmpo, 2021-22 vs. Nikola Jokić, 2024-25
Here is a wild statistic: Jokić had almost amassed as many win shares at the All-Star break this season than Antetokounmpo did in his 2021-22 campaign. Antetokounmpo did not even lead the league in PER that season. You know who did? Jokić, in a preview of the dominance he has displayed for five years.
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Advanced stats not your bag? Antetokounmpo in 2022 and Jokić this season are all but a wash in scoring, rebounds and combined steals and blocks. Look at those assists, though. In 68 games so far, Jokić has logged nearly twice as many assists (696) as Antetokounmpo did (388) in 67 games three years ago.
Advantage: Jokić
Stephen Curry, 2015-16 vs. Nikola Jokić, 2024-25
What a season that was for Curry — the greatest long-distance shooting season in NBA history. Jokić is essentially scoring at the same rate and same efficiency as Curry did in 2016. That in itself is incredible.
Theirs are the most efficient high-volume scoring seasons ever.
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What’s more: Jokić could have registered zero assists and rebounds after the All-Star break and still averaged more in both statistical categories than Curry did in his unanimous MVP campaign. What’s most surprising is how easy this argument is, because, man, that Curry season was something to behold.
Advantage: Jokić
LeBron James, 2008-09 vs. Nikola Jokić, 2024-25
Take a look at James’ best statistical season. (Not his best season. 2012-13 was his apex.) Now take another look at Jokić’s 2024-25 campaign. He is better in every regard but blocks. And I do not consider James’ edge in blocks enough to negate Jokić’s advantage in points, rebounds, assists and steals.
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If anything this should be your reminder that, yes, Jokić deserves to be mentioned alongside the greatest to ever play the game, and, yes, he deserves to join anyone who has won four MVPs.
Advantage: Jokić
Michael Jordan, 1987-88 vs. Nikola Jokić, 2024-25
The arguments are starting to get a little bit harder. Jordan’s 1987-88 season was the gold standard for guards, as he captured both MVP and Defensive Player of the Year honors. But here’s the thing: As Tom Haberstroh discovered for Yahoo Sports this past summer, Jordan’s steals and blocks that season were overinflated at home, and perhaps he did not deserve that DPOY. But that is not germane to this debate.
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We are talking about stats, and Jokić has almost doubled Jordan’s rebounds and assists in 1988. That is more impressive than Jordan’s (overinflated) edge in steals and blocks. Consider Jokić’s average finish across those four statistical categories (even given his low placement in blocks): 18th. And Jordan’s: 30th.
As for the scoring, well, Jordan attempted 24.4 field goals per game. Jokić takes 19.6. If he took as many shots as Jordan did then, statistically, Jokić would average 35.8 points per game. His edge in efficiency is that significant. As it is, and as we have mentioned before, Jokić’s 29.8 points and 10.2 assists yield 53.7 points per game. Jordan’s 35 points and 5.9 assists in 1988 generated 47 points a game.
Advantage: Jokić
Wilt Chamberlain, 1961-62 vs. Nikola Jokić, 2024-25
Oh, boy. How are we going to argue our way out of this one? I mean, 50 points and 26 rebounds a game. Good Lord. Chamberlain was a beast. Consider this, at least: Chamberlain was 7-foot-1, competing in a league that featured a single other regular who was within three inches of him (a rookie Walt Bellamy).
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If that does not explain the difference in rebounds, maybe this will: The league-average field-goal percentage in 1962 was 42.6%; it is now 46.7%. There was an average of 123.6 missed shots per game in 1962, as opposed to 95 today. If Jokić had as many available rebounds to grab, based on his rebounding percentage (19.1), he would be averaging 23.6 rebounds per game. Now imagine he is the only 7-footer.
Granted Chamberlain’s 50.4 points and 2.4 assists produced 55.2 points per game for the Philadelphia Warriors, slightly more than the 53.7 figure for Jokić. Chamberlain’s 55.2 points produced 46.5% of a team’s per-game average that season. Jokić’s 53.7 are 47.4% of the league average for a team this season. Not convincing enough? Well, Chamberlain attempted 39.5 field goals and 17 free throws per game in 1962 — more than twice as many as Jokić. If Jokić took that many shots, he would, statistically, be averaging 63.4 points per game.
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Efficiency is real. Wilt’s true-shooting percentage in a season in which he scored 50.4 points a game would rank 173rd this season — equal to LaMelo Ball.
Advantage: Jokić
So there you have it: Nikola Jokić is enjoying the greatest statistical regular season ever.
This news was originally published on this post .
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