OAKLAND — Following the Golden State Warriors’ morning shoot around, Draymond Green offered up some praise for Nikola Jokic — the Denver Nuggets’ 6-foot-10 center/forward who the Dubs’ All-Star will be battling in the post on Monday night.

“He’s definitely one of the young promising bigs in the league,” Green said. “You always hear Karl-Anthony Towns, which rightly so, he’s probably one of the next best players to come up in the league,[and Kristaps] Porzingis and all those guys, but he kind of floats under the radar. But he’s very good. Very skilled, tough [and] plays with some swagger about himself. It’s pretty cool to watch him coming up.”

Playing in his second NBA season, Jokic is averaging 12.4 points and 7.6 rebounds per game. His head coach Michael Malone credited Jokic’s intelligence for his rapid rise from 2014 second-round pick to franchise cornerstone.

“For a young kid who didn’t grow up in the country, his feel for the game is outstanding,” Malone said of the 21-year-old Serbian. “To me, being a coach’s son, I’ve always felt that the difference between being a good player and great player is great players make everyone around them better. And Nikola Jokic is the epitome of that.”

With a knack for making no-look passes in transition, Jokic would fit right in with the Warriors’ free-flowing offense. Malone provided a bizarre explanation for the big man’s exceptional court vision.

“He grew up as a point guard,” Malone said. “And he’ll even tell you he was a fat point guard at that.”Denver NuggetsDraymond GreenGolden State WarriorsMichael MaloneNBAnikola jokic