There are plenty of “what ifs” and hypotheticals in the NBA. One ideal matchup that has entertained some fans is between Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic and Los Angeles Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal. Both players have different styles on the court, which has made it interesting among fans to see which player will come on top of they face off on the hardwood.
Former Nuggets forward and teammate of Jokic, Michael Porter Jr., recently gave his take on the hypothetical matchup. Porter appeared as a guest on the show “7PM in Brooklyn with Carmelo Anthony,” where he talked about how it would go down between the two centers. According to the former Missouri star, a potential one-on-one game would end with O’Neal as the winner.
Although Jokic is his former teammate, Porter had a logical approach as to why the Serbian center would lose to the former Lakers star.
“One-on-one, Shaq is going to win. He’s going to dunk the ball every single time. Nikola, even though he can shoot threes and stuff, is eventually going to miss, and then Shaq’s going to get it back and dunk the ball again. One-on-one, Shaq wins,” Porter said.
Porter might think that his former teammate would end up losing against O’Neal, but he has the ultimate confidence in Jokic if it’s a five-on-five game.
“But in a five-on-five setting, I think Jokic is up there as an all-time great center.”
Nikola Jokic downplayed the Nuggets’ championship chances
Although it’s early in the season, there have been some early-season picks on which team will win the NBA championship. The Nuggets are among the favorites to contend for the title, following their active offseason.
However, Nikola Jokic has put a pause on the narrative that the Nuggets are championship favorites.
“The new players are trying to fit in, and we’re trying to get used to them. We have a lot of weapons in attack and it will only get better. We were contenders at the European Championship, or the World Cup, whatever it was, but we were eliminated early. It’s mostly over. I always have the desire to win, so I approach every game the same way. Last year we didn’t have a team for the title, we’ll see what happens this season,” said Jokic.
Over the summer, Jokic and the Serbian men’s national basketball team were favorites in the 2025 FIBA EuroBasket. However, they finished 12th in the tournament and were eliminated early in the year.
Jokic wants to remain focused on the task at hand at leading the Nuggets this season, and not get taken over by the championship narrative.
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Reign also writes NBA and WNBA news updates on Sportskeeda. He started as a feature writer for AirAlamo, an NBA website that covers the San Antonio Spurs. Some of his work can also be seen on Valley of the Suns, a Phoenix Suns-centric website, where he served as a contributing writer.
