Charles Barkley reveals the GOAT of foreign players, and it’s not Dirk Nowitzki

The NBA prides itself on being the best men’s professional basketball league in the world, and that certainly has some bearing as the majority of the top foreign players have goals of playing in the league. From the late Drazen Petrovic to Dirk Nowitzki to Pau Gasol to Tony Parker, the NBA has seen quite a few talented players from overseas become all-time greats. But according to Charles Barkley, there is one player who has risen above them all: Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic.

Barkley made a recent appearance on ESPN analyst Shannon Sharpe’s show Club Shay Shay, where he revealed why he thinks Jokic has surpassed someone like Nowitzki for the mantle of greatest foreign player.

“Dirk, up until The Joker, he was the greatest foreign player ever. . .I think they’re gonna win this thing again,” Barkley said. “They were like, you should keep [Jusuf] Nurkic over The Joker. . .you talk about changing the entire dynamics of your franchise, of history, that’s amazing.”

Chuck highlighted Jokic’s greatness by remarking how he and the ‘Inside The NBA’ crew were interviewing Aaron Gordon due to his career highs against the Los Angeles Lakers during the first round of the playoffs, and talking about Jamal Murray’s numbers, but that Jokic had the quietest near-triple double.

Barkley also likened the Nuggets situation with Jusuf Nurkic and Jokic to the Golden State Warriors situation when they had to make a decision between Stephen Curry and Monta Ellis. Many people at the time felt that the Warriors needed to keep Ellis like many felt the Nuggets needed to keep Nurkic.

Charles Barkley also mentioned that he doesn’t quite consider Hakeem Olajuwon a foreign player so to speak as he played college basketball in the United States. Nikola Jokic is currently tied with Dirk Nowitzki in terms in championships.

Nikola Jokic is on his way to becoming the NBA’s GOAT foreign player