{"id":83415,"date":"2025-08-20T22:01:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-20T22:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/83415\/"},"modified":"2025-08-20T22:01:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T22:01:09","slug":"finland-standout-points-out-most-difficult-abilities-of-luka-doncic-nikola-jokic-and-giannis-antetokounmpo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/83415\/","title":{"rendered":"Finland standout points out most ‘difficult’ abilities of Luka Doncic, Nikola Jokic, and Giannis Antetokounmpo"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Luka Doncic, Nikola Jokic, and Giannis Antetokounmpo are arguably the three best players in the NBA right now.<\/p>\n

While each superstar is a force to be reckoned with, what truly makes them dangerous on the hardwood? Well, Finland star Lauri Markkanen<\/a> recently shared his two cents on the same.<\/p>\n

Markkanen has gone off ahead of the 2025 EuroBasket<\/a>. But putting aside his on-court performances, the Utah Jazz<\/a> star recently conducted an interview with FIBA, where he began by talking about Luka Doncic<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoncic\u2019s ability to do multiple different things and his pace that he\u2019s never being sped up. He knows how to get to a spot and he obviously can make any shot you can imagine. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo his size and patience, I would say, and kind of change of speed is his biggest weapon,\u201d Markkanen told FIBA (h\/t BasketNews<\/a>).<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s not all, he also spoke on Milwaukee Bucks<\/a> superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"GiannisPhoto by Sam Hodde\/Getty ImagesWhat\u2019s \u2018really difficult\u2019 against \u2018physical\u2019 Giannis Antetokounmpo, reveals Lauri Markkanen<\/p>\n

When it comes to dominating through the use of sheer physical strength, there aren\u2019t many players better than the Greek Freak.<\/p>\n

Even with the Bucks barely making a dent in the postseason over the last three years, it\u2019s no fault of Antetokounmpo<\/a>. If anything, he remains one of the best basketball players in the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cKind of the same. Giannis is a really physical, fast, strong player, obviously, that we have to\u2026 It\u2019s really difficult to play one-on-one against him, so you try to load up as a team and kind of make him get rid of the ball,\u201d Markkanen stated.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cBut he can do so many things on the floor. So you do your scouting report, try to take something away, but I feel like he has some tricks in his back too that makes it really hard to guard.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Antetokounmpo turning 31 years old this year, it will be interesting to see if he will commit the rest of his prime to the Bucks.<\/p>\n

If he decides against that, teams like the Miami Heat are already preparing to welcome the Greek Freak<\/a> to their roster.<\/p>\n

Lauri Markkanen believes Nikola Jokic\u2019s basketball IQ is off the charts\"NikolaPhoto by Justin Edmonds\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Next is none other than Denver Nuggets<\/a> superstar Nikola Jokic<\/a>. The 3x NBA MVP is coming off the heels of another terrific season, only to end in a second-round exit.<\/p>\n

Once again, it doesn\u2019t mean that Jokic\u2019s abilities have declined. In fact, the Joker has seemingly added athletic dunks<\/a> to his skill-set as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cJokic is really difficult to play against. His ability to pass the ball and obviously size and scoring threat is great for him. He\u2019s really good around the basket. He can shoot the three ball,\u201d Markkanen explained.<\/p>\n

The Finnish star added: \u201cHe can shoot the mid-range. But then his IQ and passing ability makes it really hard because you can\u2019t help too much from the other players because he\u2019s such a good passer. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo he\u2019s just a full threat for your team.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Markkanen beautifully explained the differences between Jokic, Doncic, and Antetokounmpo\u2019s games, it\u2019s unlikely that opposing players can halt them on their tracks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Luka Doncic, Nikola Jokic, and Giannis Antetokounmpo are arguably the three best players in the NBA right now.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":83416,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,1662,7321,7228,47162,32207,7232,11473,4620,590,3906,85,7897],"class_list":["post-83415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-denver-nuggets","tag-eastern-conference","tag-giannis-antetokounmpo","tag-international-basketball","tag-lauri-markkanen","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-luka-doncic","tag-milwaukee-bucks","tag-nba","tag-nikola-jokic","tag-sports","tag-western-conference"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83415\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}