Nikola Jokic: The Big Man Redefining Basketball

Nikola Jokic has spent 12 seasons quietly tearing up every rule book the NBA ever wrote about big men. At this point, the resume speaks for itself: three MVPs, a title, a style so singular that coaches now design offenses around a center who moves like a guard and thinks like a point.

But long before the trophies, before the parades and the “best player in the world” debates, there was a very different picture: a chubby, slow, unathletic kid from Europe who didn’t look like he belonged in a league obsessed with wingspan and vertical leap.

One man saw something else.

The coach who saw Nash, Pau and Dirk in a teenager

Ognjen “Ogi” Stojakovic has been at Jokic’s side for the entire Denver journey, the assistant coach in the background while the Serbian star rewrote what a modern center can be. When he first laid eyes on Jokic, his mind went straight to the legends.

“First thing when I saw him, in my mind, he was a mix of talent, and I always said it. I said Pau Gasol, Steve Nash, and Dirk Nowitzki when I saw him,” Stojakovic told Basketball Network.

That’s not a casual comparison. Those three defined eras, positions and play styles. Stojakovic wasn’t dazzled by Jokic’s physique or speed—there wasn’t much of either. He was locked in on the way Jokic processed the game.

For Stojakovic, Steve Nash was the template for feel and craft.

“Steve Nash wasn't very fast, right? But he ran a lot. And then he wasn't very athletic, but he could score. He had all those kinds of different shots that helped him to be kind of great. Also, a great passer and so on,” he said.

Then came Pau Gasol, the skilled, versatile big who could do a bit of everything. And Dirk Nowitzki, the non-explosive forward who still found a way to pour in points from every angle.

“Pau Gasol again, we know big, skilled. He could do a little bit of everything. Dirk Nowitzki, again, not an athletic guy, but he was able to score a lot of points. And then I'm proud that I recognize that. I'm proud that actually I had the right approach,” Stojakovic added.

Those names sound obvious now. They didn’t then.

A guard in a giant’s frame

From today’s vantage point, you can trace the lineage clearly. Jokic’s court vision and audacious passing echo Nash at his peak. The one-legged leaners, the impossible release points, the way he bends geometry to score look straight out of the Nowitzki playbook. The footwork on the block, the balance, the patience—there’s Pau in there too.

But at the time, all of that was buried under a body type that scouts usually file under “limited upside.”

Stojakovic chose to see something else: a guard trapped in a big man’s body.

A 7-footer who could shoot, rebound, pass, dribble, post up and run an offense at an elite level. A player who didn’t just survive in the pick-and-roll era, but orchestrated it from the center spot.

The NBA is more than 80 years old. Only a handful of players have ever combined those skills in one package. Jokic has turned that package into a system.

Turning flaws into weapons

The league has never been faster or more athletic. Front offices chase length, speed and explosion as non-negotiables. Jokic climbed the ladder by ignoring that checklist.

He doesn’t jump over you. He goes around you, through you, and sometimes seems to pass straight through you.

Stojakovic understood early that talent wasn’t enough. The flashes of Nash, Pau and Dirk were just that—flashes. They needed sharpening, repetition, and a plan that turned so-called weaknesses into advantages.

He worked in the shadows, drilling Jokic’s footwork until it held up against any defender, polishing the touch that now produces floaters, hooks and fadeaways from angles that make coaches shake their heads. He helped refine the reads that allow Jokic to see a rotation before it happens and punish it before defenses can adjust.

The result is a player with no obvious holes. A “slow” center who dictates tempo. An “unathletic” star who controls games without needing to sprint or soar. A once-overlooked prospect who now looks like a lock for the Hall of Fame.

Stojakovic saw it when it was only potential, when the comparisons to Nash, Gasol and Nowitzki sounded ambitious at best. Jokic did the work to meet that vision.

Now the rest of the league is left with a different question: how do you stop a big man who thinks like a point guard, scores like a forward, and already looks like he’s playing a different sport to everyone else?