Marques Johnson vs. Nikola Jokic Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Nikola Jokic and Marques Johnson, from their rookie seasons to their last year played, in chronological order with awards, stats, championships and playoff performance of their teams every year.

Who had the better rookie season? Who had best stats in their 10th season? Who won a championship first? These questions and many others, are answered here.

Marques Johnson played 11 years in the NBA, 2 more than Nikola Jokic, who played 9. Marques Johnson had the first of his seasons in 1977-78, while Nikola Jokic had his rookie season in 2015-16. With that starting point, here you can take a look at each of their seasons side by side and compare how their careers evolved in achivements, awards and championships won, the stats they recorded both in the Regular Season and the Playoffs and how their teams performed in the postseason.

Comparison Season by Season
Jump to season: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11
Rookie Season
	Marques Johnson	Nikola Jokic
Season	1977-78	2015-16
Team	Milwaukee Bucks	Denver Nuggets
Honors & Awards	All-Rookie First Team	All-Rookie First Team
Playoffs	Bucks Lost West Conf Semis	Did Not Play

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Marques Johnson	80	34.6	19.5	3.7	6.9	10.6	2.4	1.2	1.3	2.2	2.8	7.9	15.1	.522	-	-	-	3.8	5.1	.736
Nikola Jokic	80	21.7	10.0	2.3	4.7	7.0	2.4	1.0	0.6	1.3	2.6	3.8	7.5	.512	0.4	1.1	.333	1.9	2.4	.811
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Marques Johnson	9	35.7	24.0	3.9	8.6	12.4	3.4	1.1	1.9	1.6	2.8	9.3	17.0	.549	-	-	-	5.3	7.1	.750
Nikola Jokic	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 2
	Marques Johnson	Nikola Jokic
Season	1978-79	2016-17
Team	Milwaukee Bucks	Denver Nuggets
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Did Not Play

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Marques Johnson	77	36.1	25.6	2.8	4.9	7.6	3.0	1.5	1.2	2.2	2.4	10.6	19.4	.550	-	-	-	4.3	5.7	.760
Nikola Jokic	73	27.9	16.7	2.9	6.9	9.8	4.9	0.8	0.8	2.3	2.9	6.8	11.7	.578	0.6	1.9	.324	2.6	3.1	.825
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Marques Johnson	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Nikola Jokic	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 3
	Marques Johnson	Nikola Jokic
Season	1979-80	2017-18
Team	Milwaukee Bucks	Denver Nuggets
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Second Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Bucks Lost West Conf Semis	Did Not Play

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Marques Johnson	77	34.9	21.7	2.8	4.5	7.4	3.5	1.3	0.9	2.4	2.2	8.9	16.5	.544	0.0	0.1	.222	3.8	4.8	.791
Nikola Jokic	75	32.6	18.5	2.6	8.1	10.7	6.1	1.2	0.8	2.8	2.8	6.7	13.5	.499	1.5	3.7	.396	3.5	4.2	.850
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Marques Johnson	7	43.3	19.9	2.4	4.4	6.9	2.9	0.7	0.9	1.1	2.9	7.7	18.3	.422	0.1	0.4	.333	4.3	5.7	.750
Nikola Jokic	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 4
	Marques Johnson	Nikola Jokic
Season	1980-81	2018-19
Team	Milwaukee Bucks	Denver Nuggets
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	All-NBA Second Team	-
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Bucks Lost East Conf Semis	Nuggets Lost West Conf Semis

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Marques Johnson	76	33.4	20.3	3.0	3.9	6.8	4.6	1.5	0.5	2.5	2.6	8.4	15.2	.552	0.0	0.1	.000	3.5	5.0	.706
Nikola Jokic	80	31.3	20.1	2.9	8.0	10.8	7.3	1.4	0.7	3.1	2.9	7.7	15.1	.511	1.0	3.4	.307	3.6	4.4	.821
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Marques Johnson	7	38.0	24.7	5.9	3.6	9.4	4.9	1.4	1.0	1.9	2.0	10.7	19.3	.556	0.0	0.1	.000	3.3	4.6	.719
Nikola Jokic	14	39.8	25.1	3.9	9.1	13.0	8.4	1.1	0.9	2.6	3.9	9.4	18.6	.506	1.6	4.0	.393	4.7	5.6	.846

Season 5
	Marques Johnson	Nikola Jokic
Season	1981-82	2019-20
Team	Milwaukee Bucks	Denver Nuggets
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Bucks Lost East Conf Semis	Nuggets Lost West Conf Finals

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Marques Johnson	60	31.7	16.5	2.6	3.5	6.1	3.6	1.0	0.6	2.4	2.4	6.7	12.7	.532	0.0	0.1	.000	3.0	4.3	.700
Nikola Jokic	73	32.0	19.9	2.3	7.5	9.7	7.0	1.2	0.6	3.1	3.0	7.7	14.7	.528	1.1	3.5	.314	3.4	4.1	.817
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Marques Johnson	6	39.2	18.8	3.8	3.5	7.3	3.3	1.0	0.3	2.0	4.2	7.3	16.7	.440	0.2	0.7	.250	4.0	7.0	.571
Nikola Jokic	19	36.5	24.4	1.9	7.9	9.8	5.7	1.1	0.8	3.3	3.6	9.4	18.1	.519	2.2	5.2	.429	3.5	4.2	.835

Season 6
	Marques Johnson	Nikola Jokic
Season	1982-83	2020-21
Team	Milwaukee Bucks	Denver Nuggets
Honors & Awards	-	Season MVP
	-	All-NBA First Team
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Bucks Lost East Conf Finals	Nuggets Lost West Conf Semis

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Marques Johnson	80	35.7	21.4	2.5	4.6	7.0	4.5	1.3	0.7	2.5	2.6	9.0	17.8	.509	0.1	0.3	.200	3.3	4.5	.735
Nikola Jokic	72	34.6	26.4	2.8	8.0	10.8	8.3	1.3	0.7	3.1	2.7	10.2	18.0	.566	1.3	3.3	.388	4.8	5.5	.868
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Marques Johnson	9	42.4	22.0	3.1	4.9	8.0	4.2	0.9	0.8	2.3	2.4	9.4	19.4	.486	0.0	0.1	.000	3.1	4.8	.651
Nikola Jokic	10	34.5	29.8	3.7	7.9	11.6	5.0	0.6	0.9	2.4	2.3	11.6	22.8	.509	2.0	5.3	.377	4.6	5.5	.836

Season 7
	Marques Johnson	Nikola Jokic
Season	1983-84	2021-22
Team	Milwaukee Bucks	Denver Nuggets
Honors & Awards	-	Season MVP
	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Bucks Lost East Conf Finals	Nuggets Lost West Conf 1st Rd

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Marques Johnson	74	36.7	20.7	2.3	4.1	6.5	4.3	1.6	0.6	2.4	2.6	8.7	17.4	.502	0.0	0.2	.154	3.3	4.6	.709
Nikola Jokic	74	33.5	27.1	2.8	11.0	13.8	7.9	1.5	0.9	3.8	2.6	10.3	17.7	.583	1.3	3.9	.337	5.1	6.3	.810
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Marques Johnson	16	37.8	20.3	1.8	3.5	5.3	3.4	1.1	0.4	2.7	3.1	8.1	17.1	.473	0.1	0.3	.250	4.1	5.6	.722
Nikola Jokic	5	34.2	31.0	3.4	9.8	13.2	5.8	1.6	1.0	4.8	4.0	12.2	21.2	.575	1.0	3.6	.278	5.6	6.6	.848

Season 8
	Marques Johnson	Nikola Jokic
Season	1984-85	2022-23
Team	Los Angeles Clippers	Denver Nuggets
Honors & Awards	-	Finals MVP
	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	NBA Champion

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Marques Johnson	72	34.0	16.4	2.6	3.3	5.9	3.4	1.0	0.4	2.4	2.7	6.9	15.2	.452	0.0	0.2	.231	2.6	3.6	.731
Nikola Jokic	69	33.7	24.5	2.4	9.4	11.8	9.8	1.3	0.7	3.6	2.5	9.4	14.8	.632	0.8	2.2	.383	4.9	6.0	.822
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Marques Johnson	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Nikola Jokic	20	39.5	30.0	3.5	10.0	13.5	9.5	1.1	1.0	3.5	3.5	11.4	20.7	.548	1.8	3.8	.461	5.6	7.0	.799

Season 9
	Marques Johnson	Nikola Jokic
Season	1985-86	2023-24
Team	Los Angeles Clippers	Denver Nuggets
Honors & Awards	-	Season MVP
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Nuggets TBD

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Marques Johnson	75	34.7	20.3	2.1	3.5	5.5	3.8	1.4	0.7	2.4	2.9	8.2	16.0	.510	0.0	0.2	.067	4.0	5.2	.760
Nikola Jokic	79	34.6	26.4	2.8	9.5	12.4	9.0	1.4	0.9	3.0	2.5	10.4	17.9	.583	1.1	2.9	.359	4.5	5.5	.817
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Marques Johnson	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Nikola Jokic	8	40.0	26.6	3.8	11.1	14.9	9.4	1.5	0.6	3.8	2.9	10.1	18.6	.544	1.1	3.9	.290	5.3	5.6	.933

Note: Marques Johnson didn't play in 1987-88 and 1988-89.