Heading into this season, Nikola Jokic was widely viewed as the best player in the world. This was despite Shai Gilgeous-Alexander being the reigning MVP and Finals MVP.
However, throughout the season, there started to be some real debate over who the best player in the world is. This is in part due to SGA's brilliance, but also in part due to Jokic's poor defense, especially following his knee injury.
And now, after the Minnesota Timberwolves upset the Denver Nuggets, I think SGA is officially the consensus best player in the world. Rudy Gobert limited Jokic on offense as we've never seen before, and on the other end of the floor, Minnesota punished Jokic's lack of rim protection and switchability.
The short-handed Wolves upsetting the Nuggets was sweet enough, but de-throning Jokic from his spot as the league's best player makes it even sweeter.
The Wolves knocking Jokic off his throne is a fun wrinkle to an amazing series
Jokic's counting stats overall looked solid. He averaged 25.8 points, 13.2 rebounds, and 9.5 assists. Still, he shot 44.6 percent from the field and 19.4 percent from beyond the arc. And with Gobert as his primary defender, Jokic shot just 32-for-76 from the field.
Gobert nearly single-handedly stopped Jokic, which makes his defensive performance all the more impressive. At the same time, it's frankly a bit concerning that Jokic can be limited this much by one player. In fourth quarter play, Jokic shot just 35.7 percent from the field, which is a testament to the elite defense that Gobert played on him.
By all accounts, this was the worst offensive series we've seen from Jokic in his prime.
And then there's his defense -- Minnesota relentlessly attacked Jokic both in pick-and-rolls and at the rim. They punished his drop coverage with mid-range jumpers and scored at will when he was defending the rim.
Jokic isn't the worst defender in the league or anything like that. However, he's not even close to average. Having a weakness this glaring makes it hard to argue that he's still the best player in the league. On the flip side, SGA has no notable flaws.
Heck, Victor Wembanyama could have a better case to be the best player in the world than Jokic. Wemby is an otherworldly defender while also offering offensive dominance. As such, it's fair to argue that Jokic is now the third-best player, and it's largely been realized since the Wolves brought his flaws to light.
Again, the big picture for the Wolves is upsetting their rivals and possibly setting up another deep playoff run. Regardless, it's hard not to imagine that they got some extra satisfaction from officially knocking Jokic off his throne.
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