The Denver Nuggets have gotten off to a strong start to the 2025-26 NBA season, currently sitting at 13-4 after a recent road win over the Memphis Grizzlies. Nikola Jokic had another triple double in that game, including an unbelievable pass in the closing minutes to Peyton Watson for a layup that essentially put the game away.
Jokic has somehow found yet another level to which to take his game this year, and he's quickly climbing the leaderboard of the greatest players not only of his generation, but NBA history as a whole.
Recently, former NBA head coach and current commentator Stan Van Gundy broke down where he thinks Jokic potentially stands in the history of the game, per The Ringer's Zach Lowe Show.
“He might be the best player in the history of the NBA,” said Van Gundy, per DNVR Nuggets on X, formerly Twitter.
“I understand you compare players to how well they did in the era they played in. But the evolution of athletes is, we can probably say that the best 20 basketball players have probably played in the last 20 years,” said Van Gundy.
While, of course, there is no real way to measure who the greatest player of all time actually is, Jokic is certainly staking his claim among them, and appears destined for a fourth MVP trophy this year if he continues playing at this level for the next 60 or so games.
Overall, the Nuggets as a whole are rounding into form, with Cameron Johnson finally starting to look a bit more comfortable in his new threads, and Jamal Murray playing some of the best basketball of his career after a relative down year in 2024-25.
Still, the Nuggets' hopes rise and fall with the play of Jokic, and the fact that he's already being put into all-time great conversations is a testament to the sheer dominance he has displayed over the NBA landscape over the last several years.
