Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James explained why he embraced Denver Nuggets center Nikola Joki\u0107 during the Lakers’ 115-107 road win over the Nuggets on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
During a break in the action, James made his way over to the Nuggets’ bench and shared a hug with Joki\u0107, who has been out since last month due to a hyperextended left knee:<\/p>\n
After the game, reporters asked James about the exchange, and he noted that it was all about respect:<\/p>\n
“It’s the utmost respect,” James said. “I mean, for the greats of today, for the greats of the past, for the greats that come after, Joki\u0107 is one of the greatest players to ever play this game. For me to see him, go over and just pay my respect, that’s easy.”<\/p>\n
LeBron was also asked about the USA vs. Serbia game that pitted him against Joki\u0107 at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. James called the game, which saw Team USA overcome a 17-point deficit to win 95-91 in the semifinals, “one of the greatest games” he has ever played in.<\/p>\n
James has long been established as one of the best players of all time, often in the same discussion as Michael Jordan.<\/p>\n
He is a 21-time All-Star, four-time NBA MVP, four-time NBA champion and four-time NBA Finals MVP. LeBron is also the NBA’s all-time leader in career points scored.<\/p>\n
The 30-year-old Joki\u0107 doesn’t boast the same championship pedigree with one NBA title and one NBA Finals MVP Award, but there is no denying what he has done over the past several years.<\/p>\n
In the seven seasons prior to this one, Joki\u0107 earned seven All-Star selections, three NBA MVP awards and two runner-up finishes in the NBA MVP voting.<\/p>\n
While Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid was named MVP in 2023 and Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander took home the honors in 2025, a strong argument can be made that Joki\u0107 could and should have won five MVP awards in a row.<\/p>\n
If Joki\u0107 reaches the threshold of 65 games played this season to qualify, he is the front-runner for MVP once again, averaging 29.6 points, 12.2 rebounds and 11.0 assists per contest.<\/p>\n
The Nuggets are not the same team without Joki\u0107, but they are always a championship threat with him in the lineup, and it won’t be at all surprising if the Nuggets and Lakers meet come playoff time.<\/p>\n
If that happens, some more classic and memorable James vs. Joki\u0107 encounters could be in store for NBA fans everywhere.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James explained why he embraced Denver Nuggets center Nikola Joki\u0107 during the Lakers’…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":551769,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3781],"tags":[7,301,187,3943,6,302],"class_list":{"0":"post-551768","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-denver-nuggets","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-denver","10":"tag-denver-nuggets","11":"tag-denvernuggets","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-nuggets"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115935204523105390","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=551768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551768\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/551769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=551768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=551768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=551768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}