I don’t think there’s a very clear answer. They’re the consensus top 2 in the league, similar age, career achievements and late bloomers. Both relatively injury free so far though Jokic is more available, both seem intent on staying all or most of their careers with their draft team.
Personally, I think it’s harder to build a team around Giannis you’re going to need people to compliment his weaknesses in shooting, free throws and late-game situations. Jokic dosen’t need as specific tailoring of teammates to his skills so your team might be more consistent through roster transitions. I guess you could knock Joker down for his defense but finding a power forward like Gordon who can cover up a bit on defense is easier than finding multiple good shooters.
Secondly, Joker’s game atleast appears like it’ll age better because it’s more IQ and finesse than athleticism. That might change if Giannis develops his game with age like Lebron did but it’s a less certain bet than Jokic.
I'm taking Jokic, although it's very close. He makes it easier to build around him and his game should age gracefully.
I agree but it’s really hard to say how they’ll age. There was a time when people thought Lebron would age poorly because he was reliant on athleticism, like Giannis now. The reality though is that there’s a minimum level of athleticism necessary to be a high level professional athlete, and those guys have a lot further to fall before they’re below the threshold. Jokic should be capable of all the same things he is now at 36, but if he simply can’t make it up and down the court quick enough, his value would be greatly diminished
Jokic is deceptively athletic but other than baseline roll drives there’s nothing he does right now that he shouldn’t be able to do at 36. You’re really talking about conditioning, not athleticism. Jokic has superb conditioning and there’s no real reason to believe it will get worse at a higher rate for him than anyone else.
Lebron is not a good comparison because although he is a physical freak like giannis, he is good at nearly everything else on offense as well. He has passing, playmaking and iq on par with jokic and a better shooter than giannis as well so i think it was a given that his game would have aged gracefully, no matter how much his athleticism declined. Same can not be said for giannis. I think shaq is a much better comparison for giannis.
We are past the point of having questions about jokic pace. He is one of the best conditioned players in the league.
Giannis is way more disciplined than shaq physically
i don't disagree