Despite Winning Nuggets Their First-Ever NBA Championship, 2-Time MVP Nikola Jokic Gets Disparaged by LeBron James’ Former Lakers Teammate

The Denver Nuggets emerged victorious in the 2023 NBA postseason by asserting sheer dominance on other teams. Especially, the team’s center Nikola Jokic anchored the Nuggets’ winning spree with consistent performances. The Serbian star averaged 30 points and 13.5 rebounds in the 20 playoff games and clinched the Finals MVP trophy. Despite The Joker‘s sweeping performance, LeBron James’ former NBA star thinks otherwise.

The top seeding Nuggets lost only 4 games in the entire postseason and eventually went on to win their first-ever NBA trophy. The Denver side had their 1st championship title on their cards in the last few years leading up to the 2023 Finals with Jokic’s unreal domination. Despite the rousing praise for the 2x NBA MVP, the former Lakers considered himself better than the Nuggets star.

LeBron James’ former teammate trashes Nikola Jokic

The recent NBA followers may find former Lakers star Dwight Howard’s statement on Jokic as an attempt to trash the star. The former champion almost took his team to glory against Kobe Bryant and LeBron James in his prime. Even during his championship run with the Lakers in 2020, the 37-year-old pumped out his rebound skills from the bench.

But despite basketball IQ and tall stature, Howard failed to find an NBA contract in the 2022-23 season and played at the Taiwanese Basketball league.

In a recent interview with Complex, Howard compared his balling abilities with Nikola Jokic. He agreed to rousing praise for the Nuggets star for his offensive, but he also added that the fans are forgetting his prime.  “I was getting 38 and 20, 45-18, 19, 20, and I’m doing all this with twos,” he said. “No threes, all twos. I’m not getting a lot of post-up attempts like Jokic. He’s getting way more opportunities.” 

Howard also named himself in the top 10 all-time centers of the NBA.

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This isn’t the first time where Howard took a direct jab at an NBA player. During the 2023 NBA playoff, he trolled almost every superstar of the game with a hilarious take. 

Howard trashed NBA superstars with a selfie video

The recently concluded NBA postseason wasn’t the greatest for many NBA stars like Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, James Harden, Jordan Poole and many more. Subsequently, Howard took the opportunity to make fun of these stars by inviting them to play alongside him in the Taiwanese league in a selfie video.

He didn’t stop there. He also took to Twitter sharing edited images of the stars in his team’s jersey. 

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After all his antics and trash talk, will Dwight Howard get a call back in the NBA? If so, which team will take him in?