Knicks Star Above Nikola Jokic in One Category?

The NBA’s interior attention may raid on Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic but former NBA veteran Austin Rivers thinks the real gold may lie with the New York Knicks.

Rivers made the case for Karl-Anthony Towns being the “most skilled” center in the NBA on The Ringer’s social media channels, reasoning that his attribute arsenal is better than that of the three-time NBA MVP.

“[Jokic] can’t shoot like Karl. They are not even in the same realm of shooting,” Rivers explained. “I didn’t say he was better than Nikola. Passing is just one skill … If you talk about the offensive package, Karl is a better scorer in almost every attribute of the game over Nikola. He is an average shooter, he is an average three-point shooter.”

To Rivers’ point, Towns has Jokic beat in career points per game (22.9 to 21.0), rebounds (10.9 to 10.8), blocks (1.3 to 0.7), and three-point field goal percentage (39.9 to 35.3). Towns has recovered from a slow start, notably putting 65 points combined in the last two games, both Knick victories. He had 44 alone in Wednesday’s win in Miami, good for the third-best tally so far in this young NBA season.

Rivers further clarified that Jokic is the better overall player, but warned observers to underestimate Towns’ ability to hold his own in such a one-on-one battle.

“I didn’t say he is a better player, that’s not even up for debate,” Rivers, a brief Knick, said. “If we’re talking about offensive skill set. player skill set, if I tell them both to go out and score as many points that night, Karl could score more.”

Towns and the Knicks (3-2) will get to face Jokic and the Nuggets later this month in Denver on the 25th. In the meantime, they had to Houston on Monday night (8:45 p.m. ET, MSG).

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