Nikola Jokic’s Ex-Rival, Who Had to Leave the NBA, Did This to Tackle Nuggets Star on the Court

Nikola Jokic‘s offensive prowess is undoubtedly one of the best among the present NBA stars. So much so that 3x Defensive Player of the Year, Dwight Howard has revealed he had to take special measures to defend the Joker. Even though no team has been willing to pick Howard after his last season with the LA Lakers ended in 2022, it cannot be denied that his defensive abilities were unmatched. And Howard adopting special techniques to further his defensive prowess speaks volumes about both him and Jokic.

The NBA community has been quite aware of the rivalry between Jokic and Howard, mostly because of some of Howard’s statements. But he has now revealed that he actually respected the Denver Nuggets star and put in extra effort to counter him.

“I love Jokic. Like I literally, the year that I came back to play against Denver and all that stuff, I studied this man. So I knew when I played him what I needed to do. It’s a mental game. I studied him the whole summer, I watched clips, I watched everything he did,” Howard said, appearing on ‘Above the Rim’ podcast.

He further stated that he went to the extent of learning what Jokic was doing. Not because he wanted to do the same in the game, but to contain what Serbian superstar does. Howard stated this mental aspect of the game to be his secret to being good on the defensive end.

“I could imitate every single player, but not so I could do when I’m in the game. Just so you know when it’s coming and what you do,” he said. The 2020 NBA champ mentioned he did not limit himself to studying Nikola Jokic’s gameplay but also his mentality.

Dwight Howard followed Nikola Jokic’s every move to better understand him as a player

Further in the podcast, Dwight stated that even in the bubble, he watched everything the Joker did. Every time Jokic got up to get into the game, so did Howard. “I’m at the table with you. Everywhere he went, I’m right in his face… Even to the point where after the games, or even before the games, I’m going… I’m going in they lunch room. I’m speaking to the players, I’m speaking to the coaches, I’m speaking to him, too,” the 2020 NBA champ recalled. 

Dwight believes he got to where even Jokic may have believed him to be crazy. However, the ex-LA Lakers star describes this as the amount of respect he had for Nikola Jokic as a player. The Lakers were able to overcome the Nuggets in the 2020 Conference Finals and Howard had a big role to play in that. Without a similar defensive anchor since, the Nuggets have completely overpowered LA, winning 9 straight games against the Lakers, going all the way back to December 2022.

Maybe the Lakers do need a player of Howard’s abilities. But that won’t be easy to find. In his prime, Howard won the Defensive Player of the Year three times in a row and was selected to the NBA All-Defensive First Team 4 times. Apart from this, he is a 5x NBA rebounding leader and 2x NBA blocks leader. And such capabilities do not come to a person without going the extra mile, which Howard did.