Thursday night marks the star of the 2023 NBA Finals, in which the 1-seed Denver Nuggets will play host to the 8-seed Miami Heat. Denver rolled through the Western Conference, while Miami had to scratch and claw its way to the top of the Eastern Conference, taking a path that went through the Play-In Tournament and nearly saw them blow a 3-0 series lead to the Boston Celtics.
But still, there are plenty of similarities between the two teams. For example: There are only two players in the NBA are from Serbia, have the first name “Nikola,” and have a last name that starts with “Jo” and ends with “ic.” Funny enough, both of them happen to be playing in this series. Ahead of Game 1 on Thursday night in Denver, we decided to rank those guys in an effort to see who is the best player of the bunch.
2. Nikola Jovic, PF, Miami Heat
The No. 27 overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, Jovic has taken quite the path to the NBA. Originally born in England, Jovic became one of the top prospects in all of Europe during his time with the Serbian side Mega Basket and as a member of the national team. In fact, back in 2022, Jovic was named the top prospect in the Adriatic League, an honor that previously was given to someone else who will appear on this list, but we won’t spoil who it is.
Like many rookies who end up with the Heat, Jovic spent some time this season as a member of the Sioux Falls Skyforce in the G League. During the regular season, all of his playing time in Miami came before the start of the new year, and he ended up flashing some promise when he got onto the floor — in 15 games (eight starts) with the team, Jovic averaged 5.5 points and 2.1 rebounds in 13.6 minutes per game. His best game came against the Washington Wizards on Nov. 18, when he had 18 points and six rebounds in 30 minutes of work.
1. Nikola Jokic, C, Denver Nuggets
While Jovic is level with him on number of times making the NBA Finals, Jokic has a leg up in, well, everything else. The two-time NBA MVP has taken his play to another level during the 2023 postseason, as Jokic is making as emphatic of a case for being the best player in the world as he has at any point in his career.
It’s a high bar, but the case can be made that Jokic is one of the best runs of postseason dominance on the offensive end of the floor that we have ever seen. His numbers are out of a video game: 29.9 points, 13.3 rebounds, 10.3 assists, 1.1 steals, 0.9 blocks in 38.9 minutes per game while connecting on 53.8 percent of his shots from the field and 47.4 percent of his attempts from behind the three-point line. There is no really good way to stop him — and, by extension, Denver’s offense — which is why the Nuggets have lost three times in three rounds, picked up a sweep in the Western Conference Finals, and are undefeated at home in the playoffs.