Nikola Jokic
Nikola Jokic quietly became one of the best players in the league last season. Suns fans like to look at Booker as a steal, but Jokic was the 41st overall pick in the same draft. He is a little less than two years older than Booker, but at only 22 years old he dominates the game in so many ways. Look at his stat line per 36 minutes, provided by basketball-reference.com:
<script type=”text/javascript” src=”//widgets.sports-reference.com/wg.fcgi?css=1&site=bbr&url=%2Fplayers%2Fj%2Fjokicni01.html&div=div_per_minute”></script>
He can score (inside and outside), facilitate, and rebound. His player efficiency rating (PER) in 2016-17 was also sky high at 26.3. Now compare those numbers to Devin Booker:
<script type=”text/javascript” src=”//widgets.sports-reference.com/wg.fcgi?css=1&site=bbr&url=%2Fplayers%2Fb%2Fbookede01.html&div=div_per_minute”></script>
Jokic not only scores almost as much as Booker does, but he also impacts the game in so many other ways. He also does so with incredible efficiency. In averaging 16.7 PPG with 57.8% shooting last season, Jokic was the only player in the NBA to score more than 16 PPG at better than 57% shooting. He may be older than Booker by a little bit, but I can’t imagine Booker having that all around game in under two years. The Nuggets really stumbled upon a gem in the second round (or a … nugget? Sorry…).