Would NBA be interested in making Jokic face of the League?

[LakersLegacy]

i don't think he even has a shoe deal.
if he won four rings in a row he STILL wouldn't have a shoe deal

nike never offered shaq.
i dont think tim ever got a shoe deal.
a shoe deal, de rigueur, requires some amount of all around athletic versatility that kids relate to and dare i say "relatable height" that centers don't have.

when i think "shoes that centers wear", i don't think be like mike - i think be like bigfoot

Nike has tried. He won’t return our calls. Haha.

[Medbrat]

Jokic doesn't wanna play Adam's political games, so no, they're not interested in based Serb.

[CobraCommander]

When he wins he will be the face of the league- like it or not...

Back to back MVP world champion....it will be Giannis and Jokic as the face of the league when Lebron leaves-

Ja, Luka, Tatum, Zion, SGA and anyone else can want to be the face...but winning will solve this.

We can be bored with Jokic just like we were bored with Duncan lol

The face of NBA can be ja the face of the league will be the winners

How can you be the face of the league if no one even cares to watch you play? Do you guys even understand what face of the league means?

Winning will make people care-

If people want to watch dunks only then the dunking league on TNT would still be a thing

People that like basketball will make jokic the face of the league after this sweep

[ThunderBolt]

The nba needs to realize they don’t just need to have one face of the league. That’s their problem.

[DrPampiloni]

The nba needs to realize they don’t just need to have one face of the league. That’s their problem.

I think they actually realise it and have no problem with it. It's the US sports media that's building the narrative. Combined to the big market team bias, there is no chance guys like Tim Duncan or Joker get talked about as much as they deserve.
As an international fan, it's appalling to read and hear so many journalists adamantly admitting they never watched Denver play all season. Watch the damn games, it's your job.

[ChiTownHero1992]

I dont think they'd want Jokic as the face as he is not flashy enough, nor would they want Giannis as he isn't super falshy nor outspoken. I could see them turning to Luka but he needs to start being a presence in the playoffs/winning for that to happen. Going through the list its hard to find the new "face of the NBA":

Embidd - Choker
Harden - Not good enough/old
Giannis - not flashy/soft spoken
Lavine - not nearly good enough
Demar - not good enough/old
Tatum - possible? could be most likely but needs to win
Brown - haha very funny
Mitchell - needs to be a playoff force/win first
Kawhi - needs to actually play basketball first
Ja - hahahahahahhahahahahaha thats the best joke i've heard in awhile
Trae - choker and I think he is more comfortable in his villain role
Jimmy - if the Heat continue to win or if they miraculously win the finals this would be my top pick
Lamelo - lol
Fox - not yet, needs to be a playoff presence to win
Sabonis - same as above
AD - depends on what happens int he Post-LBJ era with this team
Luka - not yet, needs to be a playoff presence and win
Kyrie - hahahaha your such a comedian
Jokic - not flashy, not enough to market in my opinion
Murray - outshined by Jokic so not happening
Zion - needs to play first
Pistons - no
Pacers - no
Raptors - no
Rockets - no
Shae - not yet, needs to be a playoff presence to win
Dame - needs to win something meaningful
KAT - needs to actually do something meaningful and win in the playoffs
Wizards - no
Curry - has a few more years left but will the warriors remain relavant?

Even though i feel as though the NBA is riddled with stars to choose from, i dont see a perfect star to market as the main brand and face of the NBA as they have the last 20 years with LBJ, and Kobe, and Jordon, etc

I see a lot more "groupings" and rivalries being marketed instead of individuals such as Heat v Boston, Warriors v Grizz, the young PG's Luka/Ja/Trae, the Euro three-headed monster Luka/Jokic/Giannis, etc

[lobosloboslobos]

I dont think they'd want Jokic as the face as he is not flashy enough, nor would they want Giannis as he isn't super falshy nor outspoken. I could see them turning to Luka but he needs to start being a presence in the playoffs/winning for that to happen. Going through the list its hard to find the new "face of the NBA":

Embidd - Choker
Harden - Not good enough/old
Giannis - not flashy/soft spoken
Lavine - not nearly good enough
Demar - not good enough/old
Tatum - possible? could be most likely but needs to win
Brown - haha very funny
Mitchell - needs to be a playoff force/win first
Kawhi - needs to actually play basketball first
Ja - hahahahahahhahahahahaha thats the best joke i've heard in awhile
Trae - choker and I think he is more comfortable in his villain role
Jimmy - if the Heat continue to win or if they miraculously win the finals this would be my top pick
Lamelo - lol
Fox - not yet, needs to be a playoff presence to win
Sabonis - same as above
AD - depends on what happens int he Post-LBJ era with this team
Luka - not yet, needs to be a playoff presence and win
Kyrie - hahahaha your such a comedian
Jokic - not flashy, not enough to market in my opinion
Murray - outshined by Jokic so not happening
Zion - needs to play first
Pistons - no
Pacers - no
Raptors - no
Rockets - no
Shae - not yet, needs to be a playoff presence to win
Dame - needs to win something meaningful
KAT - needs to actually do something meaningful and win in the playoffs
Wizards - no
Curry - has a few more years left but will the warriors remain relavant?

Even though i feel as though the NBA is riddled with stars to choose from, i dont see a perfect star to market as the main brand and face of the NBA as they have the last 20 years with LBJ, and Kobe, and Jordon, etc

This is an interesting point but true. For the first time in not 20 but 40 years their superstar-centric business model is at risk. It must drive Silver and his pals crazy, although they will probably just ride Lebron until he croaks or the next boy wonder arrives. But it sure highlights how dubious the model is in the first place. The NBA is the only sports league in the world that cultivates fan loyalty to players not teams, and this approach has had some really negative effects on the league even as it has grown the bottom line.

[RSP83]

The nba needs to realize they don’t just need to have one face of the league. That’s their problem.

I think they actually realise it and have no problem with it. It's the US sports media that's building the narrative. Combined to the big market team bias, there is no chance guys like Tim Duncan or Joker get talked about as much as they deserve.
As an international fan, it's appalling to read and hear so many journalists adamantly admitting they never watched Denver play all season. Watch the damn games, it's your job.

The media is too busy riding on the OGs jocks (e.g., LeBron, Steph, KD). How many times do you turn on the sports entertainment channel and you see just another LeBron, KD, Steph discussion?

[ty 4191]

When I look at Jokic is legit like facing a human from 100 years ago when people didn't have social media, they were playing sports for fun, riding horses, wearing suits for no reason and putting some thought and effort in their jokes that are actually pretty funny like that Suns owner thing. He also married his childhood sweetheart from before anyone knew him who is also a former athlete and smart, educated and pretty, no wonder the guy always looks calm and happy. And yeah my guess is he probably DGAF about the face of the League and never will. Pick someone else, this dude has solved life.

Good way to put it. Jokic is just built different. He is perfectly content winning and not being on ESPN constantly. He is this eras Tim Duncan

Perfectly stated, Pachinklo and Bornstellar!!

Can anyone imagine, as just one example, LeBron James saying/feeling things like these when asked about themselves, in these situations?

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

Watch on YouTube

This guy's character and selflessness is totally underrated and undervalued. Especially in THIS era of "Me, me, me"!...this guy is ALWAYS "We, we, we!!".

[Battletrigger]

I dont think they'd want Jokic as the face as he is not flashy enough, nor would they want Giannis as he isn't super falshy nor outspoken. I could see them turning to Luka but he needs to start being a presence in the playoffs/winning for that to happen. Going through the list its hard to find the new "face of the NBA":

Embidd - Choker
Harden - Not good enough/old
Giannis - not flashy/soft spoken
Lavine - not nearly good enough
Demar - not good enough/old
Tatum - possible? could be most likely but needs to win
Brown - haha very funny
Mitchell - needs to be a playoff force/win first
Kawhi - needs to actually play basketball first
Ja - hahahahahahhahahahahaha thats the best joke i've heard in awhile
Trae - choker and I think he is more comfortable in his villain role
Jimmy - if the Heat continue to win or if they miraculously win the finals this would be my top pick
Lamelo - lol
Fox - not yet, needs to be a playoff presence to win
Sabonis - same as above
AD - depends on what happens int he Post-LBJ era with this team
Luka - not yet, needs to be a playoff presence and win
Kyrie - hahahaha your such a comedian
Jokic - not flashy, not enough to market in my opinion
Murray - outshined by Jokic so not happening
Zion - needs to play first
Pistons - no
Pacers - no
Raptors - no
Rockets - no
Shae - not yet, needs to be a playoff presence to win
Dame - needs to win something meaningful
KAT - needs to actually do something meaningful and win in the playoffs
Wizards - no
Curry - has a few more years left but will the warriors remain relavant?

Even though i feel as though the NBA is riddled with stars to choose from, i dont see a perfect star to market as the main brand and face of the NBA as they have the last 20 years with LBJ, and Kobe, and Jordon, etc

I see a lot more "groupings" and rivalries being marketed instead of individuals such as Heat v Boston, Warriors v Grizz, the young PG's Luka/Ja/Trae, the Euro three-headed monster Luka/Jokic/Giannis, etc

You only talk about KAT in the Wolves, but the leader of the pack is Ant now.

Ant would be perfect in two years or so, he is flashy, athletic, charismatic and damn good.

[hauntedcomputer]

The Joker Anti-Myth Myth Machine working overtime on RealGM.

Joker's image is as carefully crafted as any celebrity's.

The NBA finally seems to have wised up that you don't push all your chips onto a single face or two or three faces. It's embarrassing to have to go back and erase Ja Morant from all your league marketing materials. With parity the league will be smarter about marketing teams--also smarter from a dollars/owners perspective to slightly diminish players' power. ESPN will eventually have to follow suit because nobody cares about Lebron and Curry anymore.

But it would be cool if Jokic stepped into his role as Mr. Humble and kept bragging about it until everybody was sick of him.

[TravisScott55]

No, only basketball nerds like Jokic

[Trey24]

Jokic made himself face of the league.... NBA's hands are tied

[Trey24]

I dont think they'd want Jokic as the face as he is not flashy enough, nor would they want Giannis as he isn't super falshy nor outspoken. I could see them turning to Luka but he needs to start being a presence in the playoffs/winning for that to happen. Going through the list its hard to find the new "face of the NBA":

Embidd - Choker
Harden - Not good enough/old
Giannis - not flashy/soft spoken
Lavine - not nearly good enough
Demar - not good enough/old
Tatum - possible? could be most likely but needs to win
Brown - haha very funny
Mitchell - needs to be a playoff force/win first
Kawhi - needs to actually play basketball first
Ja - hahahahahahhahahahahaha thats the best joke i've heard in awhile
Trae - choker and I think he is more comfortable in his villain role
Jimmy - if the Heat continue to win or if they miraculously win the finals this would be my top pick
Lamelo - lol
Fox - not yet, needs to be a playoff presence to win
Sabonis - same as above
AD - depends on what happens int he Post-LBJ era with this team
Luka - not yet, needs to be a playoff presence and win
Kyrie - hahahaha your such a comedian
Jokic - not flashy, not enough to market in my opinion
Murray - outshined by Jokic so not happening
Zion - needs to play first
Pistons - no
Pacers - no
Raptors - no
Rockets - no
Shae - not yet, needs to be a playoff presence to win
Dame - needs to win something meaningful
KAT - needs to actually do something meaningful and win in the playoffs
Wizards - no
Curry - has a few more years left but will the warriors remain relavant?

Even though i feel as though the NBA is riddled with stars to choose from, i dont see a perfect star to market as the main brand and face of the NBA as they have the last 20 years with LBJ, and Kobe, and Jordon, etc

I see a lot more "groupings" and rivalries being marketed instead of individuals such as Heat v Boston, Warriors v Grizz, the young PG's Luka/Ja/Trae, the Euro three-headed monster Luka/Jokic/Giannis, etc

You only talk about KAT in the Wolves, but the leader of the pack is Ant now.

Ant would be perfect in two years or so, he is flashy, athletic, charismatic and damn good.

He also said LOL at Lamelo when he was almost top 10 in jersey sales at 21 years old in a season where he was plagued by injuries. What a casual

[lobosloboslobos]

The Joker Anti-Myth Myth Machine working overtime on RealGM.

Joker's image is as carefully crafted as any celebrity's.

The NBA finally seems to have wised up that you don't push all your chips onto a single face or two or three faces. It's embarrassing to have to go back and erase Ja Morant from all your league marketing materials. With parity the league will be smarter about marketing teams--also smarter from a dollars/owners perspective to slightly diminish players' power. ESPN will eventually have to follow suit because nobody cares about Lebron and Curry anymore.

But it would be cool if Jokic stepped into his role as Mr. Humble and kept bragging about it until everybody was sick of him.

taking cynicism to a new level

my own probably somewhat unpopular take is that the contrast between Jokic and other chest-pounding 'look-at-me' NBA superstars is at least partly a contrast between America and the rest of the world. because in other countries humble superstars in various sports are common. whereas in America – which seems to be pretty much the only country in the world to have completely eradicated humility as a virtue – when someone comes along with an 'I'm just a normal guy' attitude it is so shocking that some people, like the poster I've quoted, can only compute it as an act.

[Sgt Major]

How is Jokic not flashy?

[dhsilv2]

i don't think he even has a shoe deal.
if he won four rings in a row he STILL wouldn't have a shoe deal

nike never offered shaq.
i dont think tim ever got a shoe deal.
a shoe deal, de rigueur, requires some amount of all around athletic versatility that kids relate to and dare i say "relatable height" that centers don't have.

when i think "shoes that centers wear", i don't think be like mike - i think be like bigfoot

Timmy 100% had a shoe. He had deals with adidas and nike

[mrvioletowl]

taking cynicism to a new level

my own probably somewhat unpopular take is that the contrast between Jokic and other chest-pounding 'look-at-me' NBA superstars is at least partly a contrast between America and the rest of the world. because in other countries humble superstars in various sports are common. whereas in America – which seems to be pretty much the only country in the world to have completely eradicated humility as a virtue – when someone comes along with an 'I'm just a normal guy' attitude it is so shocking that some people, like the poster I've quoted, can only compute it as an act.

You know, my wife and I talked about this the other day. I am half Serb/half Croatian and she's American and works in our neighborhood middle school here in Portland as a speech therapist and as a track coach. I help out as assistant coach on our elementary school girl's basketball team. There's definitely cultural aspect to it. We don't have school sports in Serbia, at least not like it is set up here. Instead, all the major sports franchises have their own junior ranks that you go through, if you are a talented athlete. Coaches are gods over there, so any kind of showboating or ego gets squished right away, as often you end up playing with people older than yourself. That also removes that school star ego pumping status, as well. Add to that European fan culture, where no player is bigger than the team and it creates a culture during your formative years where hard work, team first approach is the norm.

Now, that in itself does not create personality like Jokic, it's just a part of it. A lot of it is also just...him.

[lambchop]

When I look at Jokic is legit like facing a human from 100 years ago when people didn't have social media, they were playing sports for fun, riding horses, wearing suits for no reason and putting some thought and effort in their jokes that are actually pretty funny like that Suns owner thing. He also married his childhood sweetheart from before anyone knew him who is also a former athlete and smart, educated and pretty, no wonder the guy always looks calm and happy. And yeah my guess is he probably DGAF about the face of the League and never will. Pick someone else, this dude has solved life.

Good way to put it. Jokic is just built different. He is perfectly content winning and not being on ESPN constantly. He is this eras Tim Duncan

Perfectly stated, Pachinklo and Bornstellar!!

Can anyone imagine, as just one example, LeBron James saying/feeling things like these when asked about themselves, in these situations?

Spoiler:

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

Watch on YouTube

This guy's character and selflessness is totally underrated and undervalued. Especially in THIS era of "Me, me, me"!...this guy is ALWAYS "We, we, we!!".

Not surprised at all. I can remember a reporter asking him about a bucket he scored against lebron in the low post in 2016/2017 or something the reporter asked him if he would remember scoring on lbj and jokic simply responded that it was a mismatch situation where a big was posting up a wing player and was expected to score.

I'm guessing this here was posted on one of the earlier pages but Jokic also says that he doesn't see himself among the NBA's best players.

Watch on YouTube

I think he's humble and love his attitude but he for sure finds himself better than certain players judging by how he reacted in the all star team picking situation. That's absolutely no knock on him. He obviously has out of this world confidence, but uses his personality to keep even on the team relaxed and locked in.

[jokeboy86]

I dont think they'd want Jokic as the face as he is not flashy enough, nor would they want Giannis as he isn't super falshy nor outspoken. I could see them turning to Luka but he needs to start being a presence in the playoffs/winning for that to happen. Going through the list its hard to find the new "face of the NBA":

Embidd - Choker
Harden - Not good enough/old
Giannis - not flashy/soft spoken
Lavine - not nearly good enough
Demar - not good enough/old
Tatum - possible? could be most likely but needs to win
Brown - haha very funny
Mitchell - needs to be a playoff force/win first
Kawhi - needs to actually play basketball first
Ja - hahahahahahhahahahahaha thats the best joke i've heard in awhile
Trae - choker and I think he is more comfortable in his villain role
Jimmy - if the Heat continue to win or if they miraculously win the finals this would be my top pick
Lamelo - lol
Fox - not yet, needs to be a playoff presence to win
Sabonis - same as above
AD - depends on what happens int he Post-LBJ era with this team
Luka - not yet, needs to be a playoff presence and win
Kyrie - hahahaha your such a comedian
Jokic - not flashy, not enough to market in my opinion
Murray - outshined by Jokic so not happening
Zion - needs to play first
Pistons - no
Pacers - no
Raptors - no
Rockets - no
Shae - not yet, needs to be a playoff presence to win
Dame - needs to win something meaningful
KAT - needs to actually do something meaningful and win in the playoffs
Wizards - no
Curry - has a few more years left but will the warriors remain relavant?

Even though i feel as though the NBA is riddled with stars to choose from, i dont see a perfect star to market as the main brand and face of the NBA as they have the last 20 years with LBJ, and Kobe, and Jordon, etc

This is an interesting point but true. For the first time in not 20 but 40 years their superstar-centric business model is at risk. It must drive Silver and his pals crazy, although they will probably just ride Lebron until he croaks or the next boy wonder arrives. But it sure highlights how dubious the model is in the first place. The NBA is the only sports league in the world that cultivates fan loyalty to players not teams, and this approach has had some really negative effects on the league even as it has grown the bottom line.

So I can think of 3 names the mainstream media and league are probably hoping take Lebron's place:

Wembanyama - He's got the look and there's really no language barrier at all, and the market doesn't matter as long as the hype is there.

Bronny James - This is what the media was hoping happened with either Magic's or Jordan's kids but it didnt. They are already covering Bronny's every move heavily and hope (more like praying) that he can become at least an all-star when he's in the league because it'll give them a reason to keep talking about Lebron.

Bryce James - apparently Bryce is actually the better prospect of the two and if that's the case I expect the media to ramp up their coverage and hype even more than they did for Bronny. By the looks of that sports illustrated cover story it seems that both sons are comfortable with the spotlight and are willing to embrace it somewhat which helps