Nikola Jokic voted 7th best men’s basketball player this century

Denver Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic is the seventh best men’s basketball player of the 21st century.

This is according to a panel of ESPN voters that released their results on Thursday.

It’s a remarkable accomplishment for an unknown kid from Serbia who was taken 41st overall in the 2014 NBA Draft. And when his name was announced, a Taco Bell commercial was playing.

No one, not even the most optimistic of Nuggets fans, could’ve seen something like this coming a decade ago. Jokic has won three NBA MVPs, an NBA Finals and an NBA Finals MVP. He’s a six-time All-Star, five-time All-NBA selection and largely regarded as the best current player in the world.

“At 29, Jokic continues to annually put up numbers the league hasn’t seen from a big man since Wilt Chamberlain, and he’s far from done,” ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk wrote about Jokic on the rankings.

Perhaps even more astounding is the company Jokic keeps on the list. The only six players in front of him, in order, are LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Stephen Curry, Tim Duncan, Shaquille O’Neal and Kevin Garnett.

Jokic is ahead of the likes of Dwyane Wade, Kevin Durant, Dirk Nowitzki and plenty of other household names.

And he’s not the only member of the Nuggets on the list, as the recently added Russell Westbrook checked in at No. 23. Allen Iverson, who was in Denver for parts of three seasons, is No. 18. Of note, former Nuggets No. 3 overall pick Carmelo Anthony didn’t crack the top-25.

When it’s all said and done, Nikola Jokic could climb as high on this list as the mind can imagine. Catching James feels like a long-shot, but a couple more MVPs and championships would have him in the conversation.

To read ESPN’s full rankings, click here.