Denver Nuggets big man Nikola Jokic appears headed for his third consecutive NBA MVP Award only achieved by three players in NBA history. But in an era filled with star players, is Jokic really that much better than everyone else, or is he benefitting from a system geared toward his talents.

That’s the question 2004 NBA MVP Kevin Garnett wanted to know the answer to on the latest KG Certified, and he posed it to Paul Pierce, the 2008 NBA Finals MVP.

“He’s pretty dominant,” Paul said. “He makes the system what it is. The coach understands you make your system based on your players. The only coach that makes a system is Pop. The rest, you have to base your system around your best player. That’s what they’re doing. The system is. At the top, he’s doing the most with the least. They’ve got some really good players. But they don’t have a second All-Star.”

If he were to win this year’s MVP, and he is the overwhelming favorite to do so while averaging a triple double (24.6ppg, 19th in NBA – 10.0apg, 4th in NBA – 11.7rpg, 3rd in NBA), Jokic would join Larry Bird, Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell as the only men ever to win three consecutive MVP awards. Others have won three MVPs (LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) but not consecutively. Elite company regardless.

The Joker wasn’t the only topic of conversation. The red-hot Milwaukee Bucks, winners of 16 straight games to climb to the top of the East of course, were on the radar, as were the New York Knicks, the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Dallas Mavericks with their new duo of Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic and what Victor Wembanyama would look like in Charlotte.

Watch the whole episode below.