Apr 4, 2025; San Francisco, California, USA; Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic (15) takes a breather during the game against the Golden State Warriors in the third period at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: David Gonzales-Imagn Images

nba

‘Already A Top 5 Center of All Time’- Nikola Jokic Receives the Highest Praise From Former NBA Legend

Shaquille O'Neal has no qualms about accepting Nikola Jokic's place in the NBA!

Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic has ruled the NBA court for several years now. The 2023 NBA Champion is without a question the best player in his position in the modern-day NBA. However, when it comes to talking about the best of all time, that’s when things start to become complicated. Everyone has their own opinions and even including a player in the top 5 of an all-time list is not as easy as it may seem.

Moreover, the past greats of the game who spent their entire careers carving a path toward greatness and glory are never quick to acknowledge players of the modern generation as being on par with their level. Of course, comparing players of different eras will never lead to any concrete conclusions, but still, players such as Jokic are a class apart and command that level of respect.

Having said that, it was quite refreshing to see former NBA legend and 4-time Champion Shaquille O’Neal give the Joker his flowers while answering a hot take on his show, ‘The Big Podcast.’ Shaq was quizzed on whether or not Jokic is a top 5 center of all time to which the 15-time All-Star had a straightforward answer.

“I guess, yes.”

Shaq generally does not like to praise the younger generation too quickly as he feels quick praise leads to less motivation on the path of greatness. However, in this case, when he was asked about why Jokic is an exception to this, the former Laker pointed out that Joker has already won a ring making him deserving of the high praise.

“He’s already a champ, he has access to the building. If he wants to get to a couple more floors, I’ll motivate him but plays the right way, uh very unselfish very humble guy family guy. He’s already great at you know the things that he’s doing putting up these triple-doubles actually never been seen before so I would definitely put him up there in the top five.”

Shaq’s Shaq-A-Licious Hot Takes:

1. Nikola Jokic is already a top five center of all-time 😳
2. Steph Curry is more influential than LeBron James 👀 pic.twitter.com/QfVOjFD9FE
— Playmaker (@playmaker) April 7, 2025

Also Read: 2025 NBA Play-In Tournament Odds, Structure, Schedule and Playoffs Favorites

Along with Jokic, the other players included in Shaq’s top 5 centers of all time are Shaq himself, another Laker legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 2-time NBA Champion Wilt Chamberlain, and Celtics legend Bill Russell. That is quite the list of highly decorated players in the history of the NBA, and for Jokic to be included in that group by O’Neal is highly commendable.

What Makes Jokic So Special?

The fact that Jokic, at the age of 30 years old has won one NBA ring is not enough for him to be included in a top-5 center of all-time list, especially in a list made by Shaq. No, there is much more to it than just the Championship.

For instance, the Serbian has revolutionized the center position with all his skills. Even for a center, the 6 ft 11-inch Serbian moves almost like a much smaller and leaner guard. He has the ability to score from anywhere on the court hitting shots from beyond the arc as well. His uncanny vision helps him find open teammates leading to numerous assists on his part and his rebounding skills are next to none.

Jokic is the epitome of high basketball IQ, and although he plays a physical brand of basketball, as Big Diesel referenced in his take, he is a humble human being who plays the game the right way and remains true to the sport of basketball.

NBA

Nikola Jokic

Shaquille O’Neal

Devavrat Kulkarni

nfl

I am a content writer for the NFL team, and joined The Playoffs after working with Sportskeeda and NFL Analysis as an NFL writer. After starting my professional career as a French-to-English translator, working as a content writer is a new adventure for me. I started out in the sports media field for two main reasons: my love for sports in general, especially the NFL, NBA, and Tennis, as well as my passion for writing. The best part of this job is that I get to write a variety of pieces with the freedom to explore content from various angles. It also enables me to stay up to date with the sporting world, which otherwise can be difficult to do in the day-to-day grind. In a world full of chaos, sports unite and entertain like nothing else!