RealGM

Are the nuggets better or worse? Since Jokic is a C you can put a league average C at that spot as well

That would be interesting to see, because peak Magic is the only player I can see running this Nuggets system offense without much problems. I think their defense would be worse though, but I don't think it would be a huge concern.

Overall I’d say they’d be a little bit worse but they’re still title contenders.

Don't think they could for sure pass Lakers with 91 Magic. That 4:0 might be the closest sweep. Nobody would be able to guard AD and there would be too big a scoring load to fill.

I mean, giving them a free extra player goes a long way for what has been a strict eight-man rotation, even if we say that “average” here is someone like Kelly Olynyk… might be more fair to say Christian Wood or Zubac though. Still, it feels like a resignation of sorts to do that, so instead, how about we say he replaces Jeff Green.

Anyway, probably worth noting that Aaron Gordon has thrived in his limited minutes as a small-ball centre. Consequently, I am not convinced that playing him there for ten extra minutes a game while someone like Zubac or Wood takes Jeff Green’s minutes hurts the Nuggets here. Jokic has been fine defensively, but not to such a degree that the team relies on him on that end.

Jokics ability to shoot and spread the floor as a point center is a really important to his ability to run the teams offense. That is something the team would lack with Magic. I doubt that Magic led Nuggets could get past Wolves with Gobert camping in the paint or Lakers with AD camping in the same place.

Well, Wolves beating Nuggets with Magic in place of Jokic is an insane take in my opinion.

I've often felt that the 2nd half of Magic's career is the best comparison for Jokic. Granted more as a point - PF rather than a point - C.

There would need to be some roster readjustment for position (swapping Gordon for a Gordon-quality center) but it would be very similar. There would be similar spacing as well, as Magic had a Jokic-like set-shot 3 pointer the later part of his career (you'd need the Gordon-quality center to be as much of a shooting threat as Gordon which isn't that high of a bar).