Few things light up basketball fans faster than a list of the greatest players. One name missing can spark days of arguments. This week one of the NBA’s brightest stars managed to do exactly that.
This is a story about much more than one simple list. It touches on legacy, respect, and what makes a player truly great. It also shows how personal basketball history can feel to fans everywhere.
What Jokic actually said about his picks
Jokic shared his picks in a SPORTbible interview published Monday. He chose Bill Russell, Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain and Stephen Curry as his four greatest NBA players. Curry is the only active player on the list.
Jokic said Russell deserved a place because of his championships and chose Chamberlain because of his remarkable statistics and numbers. The explanations highlighted Russell’s extraordinary winning record and Chamberlain’s statistical dominance.
Jokic said Jordan and Curry both changed the game. He also noted that Curry belongs to his generation and is someone he has played against. His choices reflect championships, statistics and influence on basketball.
Why Stephen Curry earned a spot
Curry passed Ray Allen as the NBA’s career leader in made 3-pointers at Madison Square Garden in December 2021. His second 3-pointer of the night gave him 2,974 for his career, moving him past Allen’s previous record of 2,973.
Curry needed 789 career games to break the record, compared with the 1,300 games Allen played while accumulating his total. That illustrates how quickly Curry amassed an unprecedented number of made 3-pointers.
Curry’s shooting range helped reshape NBA offenses and forced defenses to guard players farther from the basket. That game-changing influence matches Jokic’s stated reason for including Curry among his four greatest players.
Wilt Chamberlain and the power of numbers
Chamberlain scored an NBA-record 100 points against the New York Knicks on March 2, 1962. He made 36 of a record 63 field-goal attempts, and no NBA player has matched his 100-point total.
The game was not televised, and no video recording of it exists. However, a recording of the entire fourth-quarter radio broadcast survives. Chamberlain also made 28 of 32 free throws despite finishing his career as a 51.1% free-throw shooter.
Jokic pointed to Chamberlain’s extraordinary numbers and statistics when explaining his selection. More than 60 years later, the 100-point game remains the NBA’s single-game scoring record.
Bill Russell and the 11 rings
Russell anchored a Boston Celtics dynasty that won 11 NBA championships during his 13-season playing career. His final 2 championships came while he served as Boston’s player-coach, after becoming the first Black head coach in a major American professional team sport.
After his death in 2022, the Celtics highlighted his 8 consecutive championships and 5 NBA MVP awards. Jokic specifically cited Russell’s championship success when explaining why he included him on his list.
Before joining the NBA, Russell led San Francisco to 2 NCAA championships in 1955 and 1956. He then captained the United States to an Olympic gold medal in Melbourne later in 1956.
LeBron’s scoring record is hard to ignore
LeBron James became the NBA’s career scoring leader on a turnaround jumper against the Oklahoma City Thunder in February 2023. The basket gave him 38,388 career points and moved him past Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, whose record had stood since 1984.
At the time James broke the record, he had scored 1,326 points in 44 games during his 20th NBA season. Abdul-Jabbar scored 748 points during his entire 20th and final season.
James compared the NBA scoring mark with baseball’s career home run record, describing both as records people rarely expect to see broken. Warriors coach Steve Kerr similarly said that he and many others once thought Abdul-Jabbar’s record would never be surpassed.
How fans reacted to the big snub
Jokic’s list sparked a debate across social media almost right away. Fans questioned why Curry got a spot while James was left off. The choice quickly became a major talking point among basketball followers online.
One commenter online called the omission a sneak diss aimed at James. Others saw it as a simple matter of personal taste. A four-player list forces hard cuts, and cuts are not always criticism.
Reports note the picks do not prove Jokic meant any disrespect. His stated reasons focus on titles, stats, and the way each player changed basketball. James simply was not among the four names Jokic gave.
Why every Mount Rushmore list divides fans
A basketball Mount Rushmore list has only four spots for all the legends. That means someone truly great always gets left out too. It happens no matter how dominant that player was at his peak.
Arguments get heated because the list is so small and the stakes feel so high. Fans compare eras, styles, and rings in the same breath. Fair comparisons across different generations are close to impossible anyway.
So Jokic joined a long tradition of players who argue about greatness in public. Even the biggest legends take these lists very personally. Nobody ever gets full agreement because greatness means something different to everyone.
Little-known fact:Jokic once recorded a triple-double against every single NBA team he had faced. That made him the third player in modern history to do it.
What this debate means for both stars
Jokic needs no list to prove his own place. He became the first player with 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds, and 500 assists in one season. That season showed exactly why he belongs in these talks.
In the same interview, he listed Joel Embiid, Anthony Davis, and Victor Wembanyama among his toughest matchups. He said the league is so talented right now. That shows a player who praises others quite freely.
LeBron holds a huge place in history thanks to that scoring crown. Jokic simply valued titles, numbers, and impact in a very different mix. The debate will keep going, and that is half the fun.
TL;DR
- Jokic picked Russell, Jordan, Chamberlain, and Curry for his NBA Mount Rushmore.
- He valued titles, huge numbers, and players who changed the game.
- LeBron James was left off, and fans debated it online.
- The picks do not prove disrespect since four spots force hard cuts.
- Every Mount Rushmore list leaves someone great out.
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This article was made with AI assistance and human editing.