When it comes to the debate of Nikola Jokic’s stance of being a top NBA player of all time, former Philadelphia 76ers guard Lou Williams isn’t convinced the Denver Nuggets center belongs within the top ten right now.
The 17-year NBA veteran uses Jokic’s current teammate, Russell Westbrook, to compare and prove why he feels that way.
“He’s unbelievable, but we didn’t make this argument for Russell Westbrook when he was doing this,” Williams said on FanDuel TV’s ‘Run It Back.’ “When Russell Westbrook was averaging a triple-double for two or three seasons, and even had a 60 and 22 game, we didn’t make this argument for Russell Westbrook as a top 10 player of all time.”
“When Russell Westbrook was averaging a triple-double for two or three seasons…we didn’t make the argument that he’s a top-10 player of all time. Nikola Jokic is on an unbelievable run right now, but let’s see what the totality of his career turns into.”
🗣️ @TeamLou23 pic.twitter.com/hrPkWXtAbO
— Run It Back (@RunItBackFDTV) May 6, 2025
During his days competing for the Oklahoma City Thunder, Westbrook was one of the most dominant players in the game. For four seasons in a row, Westbrook averaged a double-double. In three of those seasons, he ended up averaging a triple-double while playing in over 70 games each time.
While Westbrook’s production outside of his scoring took a dip during his lone season with the Houston Rockets, he was back to averaging a triple-double with the Washington Wizards. The nine-time NBA All-Star’s prime run was surely special and worthy of Hall of Fame talk.
As Williams stated, though, Westbrook wasn’t getting a ton of support for being considered a top 10 player of all time, and that remains the case in 2025. With zero NBA Championships on his resume, one MVP trophy, and a recent run of bouncing around and taking on more of a role-player identity, time hasn’t been in Westbrook’s favor for that conversation.
Will time treat Jokic better?
“He’s in an unbelievable run right now,” Williams said of Jokic. “But let’s see what the totality of his career turns into. He’s a one-time champion, [three]-time MVP, had a great opportunity to get another one, but let’s see what happens after this. We didn’t make this argument for Russell Westbrook when he was in a run like this. Jokic is different, don’t get me wrong. I understand that this is a completely different scenario, but we’ve got to relax when guys are still in the primes of their careers. Let’s see what else happens.”
While Westbrook currently holds more All-Star appearances than the 30-year-old center, Jokic’s resume includes two more MVPs, along with an NBA Championship and an NBA Finals nod. The Nuggets center will go down as a great one in some capacity. Will it be top ten in the end? We’ll see.
