Former NBA player Gilbert Arenas is known for wild takes, but what he said on Friday would shock even the wildest trolls online. Arenas, of course, has a podcast where he continuously shares out-of-the-box and sometimes inaccurate opinions, especially regarding certain Golden State Warriors and Denver Nuggets superstars.
The three-time All-Star downplayed Steph Curry and Nikola Jokic’s greatness on Friday, via Gil’s Arena.
“Steph is not a generational talent,” Arenas said. “Wemby (Victor Wembanyama) is a generational person. That is a generational talent.”
While Wembanyama does look to be the best player of his generation thus far, there’s no denying that Curry has cemented himself as the greatest shooter of all time. If younger generations of kids yell a player’s name when they’re shooting threes, that says something.
“Generational means you can’t mimic it,” Arenas continued. “Can you mimic Magic Johnson? 6-foot-9 point guard with the vision…no. You can’t mimic Shaquille O’Neal’s body, you can’t mimic f***king LeBron James. You can’t mimic Wemby. Those are generational. It only comes once every (generation).”
Curiously, Arenas values physical traits more than statistical production when labeling a player the G-word.
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“Physical traits,” he explained. “Somebody like Giannis (Antetokounmpo) is tweaking (on the edge of being generational)…Jokic is not a generational talent, he’s just a great basketball player. Curry was a great basketball player…generational is something that happens once every 20 years.”
The issue is that the phrase in question is generational talent, not body type. It’s even more impressive for players like Curry and Jokic to dominate despite not being built like gladiators.
Do Arenas’ claims have any validity?
Curry and Jokic are the best to ever wear Warriors and Nuggets uniforms, and two of the greatest period
Jokic, on the other hand, is already the best passing big man to ever live. The Serbian international has averaged at least 7.9 assists per game each of the last four seasons, which is highly unusual for a center. Legendary broadcaster Mike Breen already crowned Jokic as the greatest passing big he’s ever seen, via GQ’s Howard Beck and Conde Nast.
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“I’m not very big on lists and rankings and ‘who’s the greatest of all time?’” Breen said. “But in my years of broadcasting, night in and night out, the difficulty of his passing, his court vision for a seven-footer, I don’t think I’ve seen better. Bill Walton was spectacular, there’s no question, and the others that you mentioned as well. But I do think [Jokic] is on a different level, just in terms of his vision, his timing, his precision. You could make an unbelievable highlight tape just of Jokic’s passes, and you’d be amazed. He just has this amazing touch.”
Additionally, Curry and Jokic are the greatest players to ever wear Warriors and Nuggets threads. When players are not only the greatest at a certain s𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁, but also the greatest to every play for their franchise, how can they not be considered generational?
