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“How is this guy getting drafted?” – Blake Griffin says Nikola Jokic proves athleticism isn’t everything
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- “How is this guy getting drafted?” – Blake Griffin says Nikola Jokic proves athleticism isn’t everything
Picking the right players in the NBA Draft is an inexact science. Despite having access to sophisticated tools and data analysis that give front office executives insight into a player's potential, there is still no guarantee of success. This has been proven time and time again with many highly touted prospects not living up to expectations.
One metric that a team's decision-makers typically lean into is athleticism. It's easy to see how being able to jump higher, run faster, and move more fluidly on the court can translate into success in the NBA. However, as former NBA superstar Blake Griffin pointed out in a recent interview, athleticism can only take a player so far, and three-time league MVP Nikola Jokic is living proof of that.
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Is athleticism king?
NBA history has shown how the league's best players have always been blessed with insane athleticism. From Michael Jordan to Kobe Bryant , LeBron James to Shaquille O'Neal, these were players who could dominate with their physical abilities alone. Griffin is another prime example of this; not long after he was picked first in the 2009 draft, he dominated the league's big men with one aerial assault after another.
However, Griffin will be the first to tell you that athleticism isn't the end-all, be-all in the NBA. In fact, he believes Jokic defies that metric by ruling over the league despite not having the same physical gifts as other superstars.
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"If you go watch Nikola Jokic — the best player in the NBA, or one of the best, arguably one or two — if you watched him at the combine, you'd be like, 'How is this guy getting drafted?'" Griffin remarked . "Like, there's no way he could be a top player in the NBA. But he is."
To say that the Joker is a top player in the NBA is like saying the sun is bright or the sky is blue; the 6'11" big man has finished in the top five of the MVP place in six of the last seven seasons, winning the Michael Jordan trophy three times and finishing runner-up twice. This season, he's again in the running for the league's most prestigious individual honor, averaging 28.8 points and a league-leading 12.6 rebounds and 10.5 assists per game.
The NBA misread Jokic
For every slam-dunk pick like Victor Wembanyama , LeBron James, or Anthony Davis , there's a first-overall selection who has already fizzled out of the league. Notable examples include Anthony Bennett , Markelle Fultz , and Ben Simmons .
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That said, nobody can blame scouts or team executives for passing up on Jokic in the 2014 draft simply because he didn't exactly look like the part of a championship-caliber center. Yes, he obviously had the size, but was literally round around the edges.
"The NBA is so much about pace and control — and obviously skill — that ranking athleticism can't always tell the full story. So I don't know what the right answer is for the combine. I mean, I think they have to do it, and it's good to have some of those metrics," Blake sated. "But some of the best players in the league play at their own pace. They don't play super fast. They don't jump super high."
Aside from Jokic, there's also Luka Doncic , another European player who's dominating the NBA despite not being able to jump over a phone book — solid proof that nuclear athleticism is but a single piece of the puzzle, not the whole enchilada.
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This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Mar 3, 2026, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
