Lot of factors to consider, but what I'm about to do at least gives us a framework to go off of for all three. Jokic is now about 6 years into his prime, so I'm gonna compare him thru 6 years to Steph and KD also 6 years into theirs...
Prime Jokic, 2018-present (Y9/age 29)
•'23 champ, '23 FMVP, 2x MVP (4x Top 5 MVP)
•5x All-NBA (3x 1st), 6x All-Star
•1-0 Finals, 1-1 WCF, 8-4 playoff series record
•has led Nuggets to 52.2 wins/year (on pace for 55 this year which would be 52.7), plays 77.4 games/year, on pace for 79 this year
Prime Steph, 2014-20 (Y11/age 32)
•3x champ, 2x MVP (3x Top 5 MVP)
•5x All-NBA (3x 1st), 5x All-Star
•'16 scoring champ, '16 steals champ, '16 50-40-90
•3-2 Finals, 5-0 WCF, 17-2 playoff series record
(*as a #1*)1-1 Finals, 2-0 WCF, 8-2 playoff record
•led Warriors to 56.8 wins/year, played 60.7 games/year
(As #1)led Warriors to 53 wins/year, played 55 games/year
Prime Durant, 2009-15 (Y8/age 26)
•'14 MVP (5x Top 5 MVP), '12 AMVP
•5x 1st Team All-NBA, 6x All-Star
•4x scoring champ, '13 50/40/90
•0-1 Finals, 1-2 WCF, 8-5 playoff record
•led Thunder to 54.5 wins/year, played 71.8 games/year
...................
They play such contrasting styles its hard to make clean comparisons. I do think Jokic is the best player in basketball but I think it's a thin margin between he and Giannis. In a vacuum Giannis may actually be the better basketball player but when uts this close and one guy doesn't have a resume full of chokes that guy gets the nod...
I absolutely think it's just he and Giannis, I'm not entertaining Embiid in that convo, not entertaining no old timers in that convo. And I do not think there's a huge gap between he and Giannis...
He and Giannis are really in the race to see who is really gonna own this decade and right now Jokic is winning even though Giannis was in the NBA first, Giannis became a star first, Giannis won MVPs first, Giannis won a title first...
Conversely, there was never a definitive period Steph or Durant had a lead as the best player alive. Steph's best shot was the 2016 season, which as a 1-year run I absolutely think you could make the argument that '16 Steph was better than any version of Jokic we've seen....and then the playoffs and Finals came and proved Steph wasnt the best player...
Durant thru a 6-year prime was never close to the heights these two reached. Steph as a #1 had led two Finals runs on teams eerily similar to the current Nuggets. Durant's outta this conversation, at the same point of his career, 6 years into his prime. He was phenomenal, and probably yhe second best player alive, but there was a massive gap between he and LeBron...
If Jokic is behind Giannis it's literally a half step. And '16 Steph was closer to Bron than any version of Durant to that point...
The answer to this question is yes, Jokic is better than both. Steph gets eliminated because there's never been a point Jokic was a #2. And Jokic also has availability on both, Durant ('15) and Steph ('20) were both missing most of their 6th prime year, while Jokic might play 80 games this year...
Jokic is almost as successful as Steph as a #1, two MVPs, 1 chip....
The crazy thing when you think back ok this is Durant peaked sooner and faster than both, and was a worse player than both...
