(Photo by Arturo Holmes/Getty Images)
The center position has evolved significantly in recent seasons.
For several years, centers were mostly big and sluggish, only utilized in the paint for easy lay-ins, dunks, and rebounds.
While there is still an aspect of this for centers in today’s NBA, many of them have other non-traditional characteristics that make them special.
Take Karl Anthony-Towns, for instance.
Towns is viewed as one of the best three-point-shooting big men from the past decade, and perhaps further.
Nikola Jokic is also seen as a unicorn of sorts, as he can not only get it done in the paint, but he’s an efficient shooter when he needs to be, and his court vision and facilitation are second to none.
After seeing what he’s done to this point in his career, especially during this year’s playoffs, Kendrick Perkins made a bold statement on the NBA on ESPN.
“Nikola Jokic is already the most skilled center we’ve ever seen touch the da** basketball,” Perkins said.
“Nikola Jokic is already the most skilled center we’ve ever seen touch the damn basketball.” @KendrickPerkins says Jokic wil become a Top-10 player EVER with a title this year pic.twitter.com/w9idSe1I96
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) May 15, 2024
Perkins indicated that Jokic could be a top-10 player in NBA history when all is said and done, and he might already be there with another championship.
There have been very few players to be as dominant as Jokic, especially in today’s NBA.
Players like LeBron James and Steph Curry are certainly great athletes that have had tremendous success in the league, but it’s hard to say they’ve been as dominant as Jokic.
If he wins another title this year, especially after securing another MVP award, Jokic’s standing in the public eye could skyrocket, as Perkins indicates.
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