Hall Of Fame Center Bill Walton Likens Current Nugget To ‘Ray Of Sunshine’

It’s no secret that legendary NBA big man Bill Walton is a noted deadhead. So, it shouldn’t be all that surprising that when asked about Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, Walton said Jokic has been able to “move our universe to a better place.”

And Walton wasn’t just blowing smoke. He’s all in on Jokic, last season’s NBA MVP.

“He’s just really, really great,” Walton told the Denver Post. “He is brilliant.”

Like those lengthy Grateful Dead guitar solos, Walton’s admiration for the 27-year-old Jokic is seemingly endless and constantly changing direction with no sign of a beginning or an end.

“It’s a privilege for me to watch him play basketball,” Walton said, per the Denver Post. “He is Colorado. He’s a pioneer. He’s an innovator. He’s a creator of a new and better path to tomorrow.”

Walton had an opportunity to meet Jokic at last weekend’s All-Star Game and apparently went all fanboy on Denver’s lone All-Star representative.

“I just said how proud I am of him and how happy I am for him and what he’s been able to do to create the life, to create the world, and to move our universe to a better place,” Walton commented to the Denver Post.

Walton, 69, then added: “And the style, the grace, the elegance, the dignity, the class that he brings each and every day, and it’s just a fresh ray of sunshine.”

Anyone who’s ever heard Walton speak knows that Walton never gives a compliment without some reference to mind, body, spirit, or some other new age thing. So it should come as no surprise that Walton said, per the Denver Post, “I’m so grateful for the way (Jokic) plays because it represents the best of the human spirit in terms of inclusion, in terms of opportunity, team, sacrifice, discipline.”

That’s high praise from Walton -- in more ways than one.

 

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