SAN FRANCISCO — Nikola Jokic didn’t just play basketball on Sunday night; he operated with the precision of a surgeon, even as the Denver Nuggets stumbled. Despite a 128-117 loss to the Golden State Warriors at Chase Center, Jokic walked off the floor with his 21st triple-double of the season. The performance prompted NFL legend Shannon Sharpe to take to X and ask the question that has the entire league talking: Is there actually a list of ten players better than Jokic in the history of the game?
Chasing History in a Slumping Season
Sharpe’s post hit the internet like a lightning bolt. “Are we sure once Jokic career is over? We’ll be able 2 name 10 better players than him?” Sharpe wrote, noting that the 31-year-old Serbian is sprinting toward a 40-20 triple-double season. The numbers back up the hype. Jokic is currently tearing through the league, averaging 28.8 points, 12.5 rebounds, and 10.5 assists per game. He isn’t just a big man; he’s a 7-foot offensive engine that refuses to stall.
The Joker nearly secured his triple-double before the halftime buzzer sounded in San Francisco. He currently leads the NBA in both rebounds (12.3) and assists (10.5) while maintaining a scoring average that ranks in the top ten. Most impressively, he is shooting 58.4% from the field. If he keeps this pace, he could become the first center in league history to join the 50/40/90 club while averaging 30 points. It’s a statistical anomaly that seems routine for the three-time MVP.
However, individual brilliance hasn’t stopped a collective slide. Denver has dropped six of its last nine games, falling to a 36-22 record. The magic that fueled their 2023 title run feels strained. While Jokic matches records set by Oscar Robertson and Russell Westbrook, the Nuggets are struggling to find the “open looks” that usually define their offense.
“I’m definitely concerned, because we are losing the games. We are losing the games, and we are not creating open looks. So that’s something that we need to change. … I don’t know what it is, but we need to figure it out.”
— Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets Center
The Mount Rushmore Conversation
The debate Sharpe started isn’t just about this season—it’s about the Pantheon. Jokic already owns three regular-season MVPs and a Finals MVP. He recently delivered a Christmas Day masterpiece in 2025, racking up 56 points, 16 rebounds, and 15 assists against Minnesota. No other player has ever hit those marks in a single game. He currently holds the No. 1 spot in the 2025-26 player rankings, and the gap between him and the rest of the league is growing.
Denver’s immediate future depends on more than just Jokic’s box score. The Western Conference standings are tightening, and the Nuggets’ defensive rotations looked sluggish against Golden State’s perimeter attack. While the GOAT debate rages on social media, the man at the center of it is focused on a different problem: why the winning has stopped while the records keep falling.
