Nikola Jokic is the most dangerous offensive player in the league. In fact, he's the most dangerous player in the league. Period.
On the season, Jokic is averaging 28.9 points per 75 possessions (99th percentile) on 64.3% true shooting (87th percentile). His Estimated Plus-Minus is a +7.7, which is tied for the very best in basketball with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (per Dunks & Threes).
We could list numbers all day. The bottom line is that Jokic is a problem that few teams can handle. However, fortunately for us, it looks like the Sacramento Kings are one of those teams, and it is thanks to this player.
Sacramento Kings shutdown Nikola Jokic
On Monday, the Kings fell just short of a 23-point comeback against the Denver Nuggets, as they lost 130-29. Despite not coming out with the dub, there were a lot of positives from the performance. One of which was that they held the Jokic to just 20 points on 8 of 19 shooting (42.1%). That's 13.7% less than he is shooting from the floor on the season (55.8%).
A big reason for this was Domantas Sabonis. According to NBA.com Matchup Data, Jokic was 3-for-13 on field goal attempts that were defended by Sabonis. That means that Jokic shot 23.1% on field goals defended by Sabonis and five for six (83.3%) on field goals where Sabonis wasn't guarding him.
Nikola Jokic was just 3-for-13 on shots defended by Domantas Sabonis yesterday, per https://t.co/J2cZKdbFlj.
— Mat Issa (@matissa15) December 17, 2024
Sabonis gets a lot of flack for being a weak rim protector (as he should), but that doesn't mean he doesn't have any strengths on the defensive side of the ball.
Obviously, this stat line comes with the same small sample size caveat that you would attach to all single game outcomes. However, Sabonis showed a great deal of acumen defending Jokic last year, too. In four games, Jokic shot 22-for-48 (45.8%) on field goals defended by Sabonis – nearly 13 percent lower than his field goal percentage in 2023-24 (58.3%).
As the tweet above states, many people view Sabonis as one of the worst defensive centers in the NBA because he isn't a great rim protector (a big part of being a defender at the five spot). According to Cleaning the Glass, Sabonis is in the seventh percentile among centers in block rate.
But just because Sabonis isn't a great paint protector doesn't mean he doesn't provide value on that end of the floor in other ways. And clearly, one of those ways is his ability to use his broad frame to guard great post players like Jokic.
The Nuggets have other players who create serious problems for the Kings (like Aaron Gordon). But if the Kings have to play the Nuggets in the postseason this year, we at least know that Sabonis can make life hard on Jokic.