Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic is arguably the best center in the league in the past four years based on his individual accolades and team accomplishments. However, that does not make him the best offensive player in his position according to an analyst.
For Austin Rivers, that title goes to New York Knicks’ Karl Anthony Towns.
The former NBA player, now working as an analyst for ESPN, made headlines on Sunday after claiming that KAT is a better scorer than Jokic who won the season MVP award thrice in the last four years.
In his podcast ‘Caught Offguard, Rivers called Towns the most-skilled center in the league, which his co-host Pausha Haghighi instantly tried to oppose by bringing up Jokic’s name.
Rivers is unmoved although he acknowledged that Jokic has the highest basketball IQ and the best player in the league. The pair went on exchanging arguments for their picks but the 11-year NBA journeyman just does not think Jokic can keep up with Towns’ offensive package.
“Brother, if you talk about offensive package… Karl is a better scorer in almost every attribute of the game over Nikola.”
“No man, he can score better than him. If I told them both to go out and score as many points that night, Karl could score more than… What does Nikola do better than him other than pass?”
Nikola Jokic vs Karl Anthony Towns over the years
It would be crazy to say that KAT is better than Jokic if one would go over their numbers.
There was never a time in the last four seasons that Towns finished higher than Jokic in the scoring list. The last season he was the better scorer stat-wise was in 2019-2020 season when he averaged 26.5 points as part of the Minnesota Timberwolves against Jokic’s 19.
When it comes to their head-to-head match up, the stats are close – Towns with slight edge on points production 22.1 against Jokic’s 21.9.
Rivers said Towns’ production took a hit when Edwards arrived as he has to play second fiddle. However that argument may be flawed as it only means he can’t be the player in his team.
Jokic has Towns beat when it comes to assists and that part of the game is part of the offense as it also leads to scoring.
What do you think?
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