I think he played a couple good defensive games on him back in the day when he was motivated (not always the case towards the end in Memphis)

As to u/NBAPerspective using the Davis example, he actually was a great defender against Joker… 3+ years ago when Joker would show up to preseason overweight and unprepared. Joker got better. Much better. Won 2x MVPs and a title since then.

In Nuggets fan lore, Jokic finally got serious about his body after getting his butt whipped by AD in this game in 2019. '19-'20 was definitely the season for which he showed up fattest, and after that game our beat guys reported that he had started lifting weights after the game.

Armchair psychoanalyzing, but I think for the past couple years AD has been kind of a “measuring stick” for him.