How Nikola Jokić Became the World’s Best Basketball Player

Traditionally, a basketball team is organized into discrete parts. The tallest man fights for control near the rim, waiting to be fed passes for close-range baskets. Guards and wings fly around the perimeter of play, dribbling, passing, taking longer shots. Jokić can do all these things. He can also take the ball on a handoff outside the three-point arc, drive toward the basket, and, while misrouting defenders with his eyes, sling the ball across the floor to a player who has materialized in the corner. He can grab a defensive rebound with one hand and, in the same motion, throw an overhand pass to a player racing toward the basket on the other end of the court. He knows where his teammates are going to be before they arrive, and he sends the ball there to meet them.