Jason McIntyre: Duke freshman Cameron Boozer ‘ahead of Nikola Jokić’s pace’

Duke’s Cameron Boozer has had one of the most impressive freshman seasons in the history of college basketball.

The son of former NBA journeyman Carlos Boozer, Cameron averaged a double-double this season on tremendous efficiency. Boozer is expected to lead the Blue Devils on a deep run in the NCAA tournament this season.

And despite Boozer earning high expectations entering March Madness and still being in play for the No. 1 overall pick in this summer’s NBA Draft, FS1 host Jason McIntyre had a different angle on Boozer on Monday’s edition of The Herd. McIntyre claimed Boozer was not merely on pace with one of the greatest players in the NBA currently, but in fact “ahead of” him.

That player? Nikola Jokić.

The reason for the comparison? Well, they are both ground-bound big men. The connections seem to end there.

“I don’t know if Cam Boozer could jump over a yellow pages phone book. I don’t. He’s not athletic,” McIntyre explained. “But do you know who else was not athletic when they came into the NBA? This guy named Nikola Jokić. He was not.”

“He is ahead of Nikola Jokic’s pace. That’s how good this guy is.”

Is Duke’s Cam Boozer the next Nikola Jokic? @jasonrmcintyre makes the case pic.twitter.com/5a17RIeMzE

— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) March 16, 2026

McIntyre went on to explain that when Jokić came out of Serbia’s Mega Bemax for the 2014 draft, he was a rawer prospect. Jokić did not average a double-double until his third NBA season and was not an All-Star until Year Four.

McIntyre expects Boozer to blow through Jokić’s more gradual trajectory.

“(Jokić) averaged 10, 7, and 2 at 20 years old. He was getting adjusted to the league,” McIntyre said. “Cam Boozer is going to walk into the league and probably average 18 and 10, at, for most of it, 18 years old. He’s ahead of Nikola Jokićat this age. Now, he’s only a teenager. A lot can happen.”

These differences seem pretty stark. International players often take multiple years to develop in the NBA, or at least they did when Jokić got drafted more than a decade back.

Notably, Jokić also took time to grow into his body — a problem that, despite similar height and weight markers, Boozer clearly does not have. And while Boozer is the clear centerpiece of this Blue Devils squad, Jokic was a bench player in Serbia before coming over. The two-time MVP famously grew up around horse racing before embracing basketball later in life.

But McIntyre really wanted to drive home the point that, in 2026, the well-compensated son of a former NBA star is surpassing a Serbian kid from circa 2014. Never mind the fact that the Serbian kid became one of the greatest players in league history.

“I know people are going to dislike this. ‘J, he’s an MVP. Why are you doing this?’ Stop. I’m not comparing him to 30-year-old Nikola Jokić,” McIntyre said. “I’m comparing him to, at that age, at 18, he is ahead of Nikola Jokic’s pace. That’s how good he is.”