Philadelphia 76ers: Where does Joel Embiid rank among the NBA’s top centers?

Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets

The Denver Nuggets’ All-Star center has quickly become one of the more dominant and versatile bigs the league has to offer. The 41st overall pick in the 2014 draft by Denver, Nikola Jokic has a skillset very similar to that of Joel Embiid, making him incredibly difficult to guard. This season he has solidified himself when it comes to the NBA’s top centers, with many arguing that he should top that list. While I would not go quite that far, there is no doubt that Jokic is a top-three center in this league.

This season, Jokic is putting up All-NBA numbers, leading his team to a top seed in the West to go along with it. With a split of 20.3/10.8/7.5, Jokic has been a triple-double machine this season. Although many NBA pundits are moving away from praising triple-doubles, the 7-footer is still putting up some pretty strong performances’ night in and night out.

Jokic and Embiid have matched up just three times in their young NBA careers. Though Jokic has outperformed Embiid in two of their three matchups, the numbers are fairly close. Embiid has put up splits of 19.3/10.3/2.7, with Jokic besting him, posting 22/8/6. Jokic has also had the better result history, winning two of the three matchups between the 76ers and the Nuggets. These two big men are arguably the most versatile big men in the NBA, with Jokic holding an offensive advantage, but Joel has been the more dominant defensive force throughout the last few seasons.

When it comes to Jokic, he is planted firmly in the top-three on the list of NBA centers. I believe he and Embiid are 1a and 1b, with Embiid getting a slight edge. The edge may be a little bit biased, but I also believe that Embiid brings more to the table in terms of overall athleticism than Jokic. Similarly with the Davis comparison, I would still take Embiid on my team over Jokic.

Advantage: Joel Embiid