"This is bulls**t’: Former Laker mocks Gilbert Arenas over provocative Nikola Jokic 'empty stats'

Nikola Jokic is playing the best basketball of his career, and his numbers are among the best in the NBA. However, his team doesn't look like the dominant outfit it was two years ago when it won the championship. The Denver Nuggets (12-10) are sitting in seventh place in the Western Conference.

Moreover, anyone not named Jokic has been either hurt or hasn't played up to his usual standards. That's why, as much as Jokic's numbers have been remarkable, former NBA star Gilbert Arenas is less than impressed with them. In fact, he believes they're empty numbers.

"Everyone on a bad team can put up real good numbers," Arenas said on his podcast, adding, "We see every year there's always some player that is on a bad team that's putting up, what do you call them? Empty stats. They don't want to call these empty stats when they're losing. It just makes no sense. You guys won a championship. You're supposed to come back and dominate."

As a response, former NBA guard Lou Williams called him 'a genius,' claiming that even Arenas knows he's just engagement-farming with his hot takes.

“Gil is a genius," Williams said on "Run It Back," adding, "He has found a way to get the people going. It's provocative. He knows that it is not real. That's some bulls**t, Gil. ... Are they in a bad groove right now? Absolutely, but are [those] empty stats? No."

"Gil, I know what you're doing," Williams added.

Jokic is currently averaging 32.3 points, a league-best 13.6 assists, and 10.2 assists. He's also shooting 56% from the floor and 50% from three. He would be the first big man to average a triple-double for an entire season, as well as the third player overall.

Nikola Jokic suggests pay cuts to motivate teammates

Jokic knows his team needs to wake up from this lethargic stretch. Following their loss to the Washington Wizards, he suggested the team should start taking money off the players' paychecks to motivate them:

"In my country, where I’m from, after this kind of stretch, you’re going to get a paycheck that is a little bit less than usual. So maybe that’s what we need to do. Maybe a little motivation," the Serbian center said.

While that's unlikely to happen, something has got to change for Mike Malone's squad. It's still early in the season, and it would be a shame to see Jokic's career season go to waste.

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