Can you see Luka becoming the unquestioned best player in the league while Jokic/Giannis are still in their primes?

[SinceGatlingWasARookie]

LeBron was better than Kobe for years before LeBron became unquestioned best.
Wembyama might pass Doncic before Doncic can pass Jokic.

Is Doncic almost done getting better?

I think the Kobe-LeBron argument started in earnest in 06 but didn't seem somewhat settled until 09 but even then Kobe had been mvp in 08 and was fmvp in 09 so there was still a lot of ammunition for people who wanted to rank Kobe higher. I don't think LeBron was seen as unquestioned best until 2012 by which time Kobe wasn't even in his prime anymore.

Being the best player is a lot easier to achieve than being the unquestioned best. Kobe fans proved that hold outs can question what they do not want to believe.

I am older. I remember Magic and Bird fans using Jordan’s lack of championships to deny that Jordan was better than Magic and Bird. I was a Celtic fan but I accepted that Jordan was better than Magic and Bird before Jordan won his first championship.

[Cavsfansince84]

Being the best player is a lot easier to achieve than being the unquestioned best. Kobe fans proved that hold outs can question what they do not want to believe.

I am older. I remember Magic and Bird fans using Jordan’s lack of championships to deny that Jordan was better than Magic and Bird. I was a Celtic fan but I accepted that Jordan was better than Magic and Bird before Jordan won his first championship.

Well that's part of it(which I already made a post about above) and I think you have to exclude irrational haters from it since most any top 5 player will usually have a small vocal amount of haters who will never admit they are the best. I'm not really entirely sure what your reply has to do with what I wrote though. Maybe you could elaborate on what you are driving at.

[Woodsanity]

We have
Jokic
Giannis
SGA
as the primary competition.

Soon Wemby will be there too.

It is very very hard to be the consensus best player with all these elite players. So its possible but unlikely.

[bigboi]

to be honest, I think you can make a credible case for Luka over Giannis even now.
can he pass Jokic as well? Why not, he can both make further improvements or Jokic a little step back.
I don't think Luka will ever be as good as Jokic last year, but I suspect Jokic won't be like that forever

Luka missed the playoffs. There’s absolutely 0 case of him being over Giannis ever

Lebron and Curry missed the playoffs. Do they have no case over Giannis ever? Of course they do.

Curry and Bron have rings as well as missed the playoffs after their prime. Luka has 0 excuse. He had Kyrie Irving and still missed the playoffs. It’s not even close. You put Giannis on the Mavs, they make the playoffs not even a question. Luka is simply not better than Gianni’s

[bigboi]

Not a chance. It’s questionable if Luka is even better than Shai and he isn’t better than Embiid either at all

This is about the future. Nobody is arguing that Luka is currently the unquestionably best player in the league, so your point feels not pertinent to the topic.

I don't think many believe that Luka won't be better than Embiid in a couple years considering Embiid's injury history. SGA will be an interesting case. I'd rather have Luka for the playoffs today but if SGA's play is not slowed down by playoff defenses then these two could have a nice battle for best Guard in the NBA for a couple years.

As for the OP: I agree with what appears to be the majority that the bar seems prohibitively high. Could Luka be seen as the best player in the league? Absolutely. But I don't think it'll be unquestioned if that happens. The talent at the top is just so good these days. For that to happen, you'd need Jokic (who's having one of the highest peaks ever) to slow down plus have a top-5 all-time peak for more than a season. That's what is required historically to have a consensus best player in the league IMO. Obviously Victor has a good chance as anyone to spoil even that remote chance but it's too early still to have him as a shoe-in – a lot can happen over multiple seasons.

Again he won’t be better than neither Giannis nor Jokic for the next few years. So no, he won’t be unquestionable anything. That’s not even including Wemby who honestly looks to be better than all of them by year 4 or 5 barring injury

[Saints14]

I mean, I don't think it's unrealistic for Luka to outplay Jokic in a playoff series, and if the Mavs were to go on to win it all after that we'd likely crown Luka the best. He's got a career playoff BPM of 9.7 while being age 21-23 in his postseason appearances, that is just absurd. To me it's never been out of the question he can have a prime LeBron stretch in his prime, he's really just been a tick below that in his playoff career so far

[HeartBreakKid]

Yes, I can see it happening. Luka is insanely good and has not peaked yet.

Nothing surprising at all about him being the best player in the league at one point.