Indeed, in recent years no one in the NBA has stopped the game more by kicking the ball than Jokic. Since the start of 2020, the superstar has been whistled for a whopping 127 kicked-ball violations, between his regular-season and postseason games. In the 2022-23 season alone, Jokic logged 56 kicked balls; more than any other team did. For perspective, the league's next-closest player, Chicago Bullscenter Nikola Vucevic, has recorded just 66 kicked-ball violations total since the start of 2020.
...the center has essentially found a cheat code on defense. In being able to time the plays perfectly, Jokic can effectively press pause and short-circuit the opposing team's offense whenever he feels like it, forcing a possession to restart.
Take, for instance, a play from Game 4 of the 2023 NBA Finals, in which Jokic quickly extended his left leg into the path of a backdoor pass from Bam Adebayo to Duncan Robinson. "It's a kick-ball violation, but it stops what probably would have been a layup," ABC play-by-play announcer Mike Breen during the telecast. The stoppage marked Jokic's fourth kicked ball of the contest. (The center has had as many five kicks in a game, and somehow managed to log three kicks in six minutes against Miami another time.)
"What all of us are trying to do in the NBA is avoid having to face a set defense," Green, a former Defensive Player of the Year, told ESPN. "So if you have them in a bad way, where you've got a clear 2-on-1, he just kicks the ball, stops the play, and it's a side out. Guess what? That allows them to reset their defense."
