Nikola Jokic was asked to name his NBA Mount Rushmore and left LeBron James off it. The Denver Nuggets centre picked Bill Russell, Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain and Stephen Curry in an interview with SPORTbible published on 12 October, tied to a new partnership with Sprite.
He gave each pick a single-line reason.
“Probably Bill Russell because of the championship. Michael Jordan because he changed the game. Probably Wilt Chamberlain because all the numbers and all the crazy stats.”
Only one of the four comes from Jokic’s own era.
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“And I’m going to put Steph Curry because he changed the game and he’s kind of my generation.”
“I played against the guy so he kind of changed the game. So those are the four.”
No LeBron on the toughest opponents list either
Asked separately for the toughest players he has faced, Jokic again did not mention James. His answer stayed on big men and ran through his direct rivals at the five.
“But let’s say in my generation, it’s Embiid, Towns, Anthony Davis, basically all the big names, Victor right now.”
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The names are Joel Embiid, Karl-Anthony Towns, Anthony Davis and Victor Wembanyama. All of them play Jokic’s position, or close to it. James, a wing-forward, is on neither list.
James has already said he picks himself
The omission comes four months after James made his own case in a Time magazine profile reported by ESPN in June 2026. Asked who he would pick as the greatest, he picked himself.
“I’m not taking nobody over me. There’s no question.”
“If there’s a general manager and he’s eyeballing all of us on a baseline, with the No. 1 pick, it’s gonna be hard not to take me, champ.”
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James added that Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Shaquille O’Neal would likely answer the same way for themselves. Jokic’s list, like most all-time picks, has Jordan on the mountain and leaves James off.
Jokic did not say why James was not among the four.
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