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Nikola Jokić – Denver Nuggets & Career

NBA fans might be witnessing one of the greatest careers in basketball history right now. Even though he is only 27 years old, Denver Nuggets superstar center Nikola Jokic has cemented his place as one of the most talented players in league history. His ability to completely dominate the game on the offensive side of the floor in several ways has rarely been seen before.

Jokic’s career is far from over, and we will see how his accolades stack up with some of the greatest centers of all time when all is said and done. Although he just missed out on being included in the NBA 75 top players list, it seems like a certainty that he will be a part of any future anniversary lists moving forward.

Nikola Jokić – Childhood

Nikola Jokic’s biography starts on February 19, 1995 in the city of Sombor in Serbia. Due to the incident he was involved with this past season with Markieff Morris of the Miami Heat, Nikola Jokic’s brothers Strahinja and Nemanja Jokić are more well known.

Nikola is the youngest of the three, and the older brothers spent a lot of time playing with him. The family had a toy basketball hoop set up on one of the doors in the apartment where the family grew up. Since Nikola was a lot shorter as a kid than his brothers, Strahinja and Nemanja would play up on the toy hoop with their younger brother while they were seated, so the game was not unfair.

Despite some memorable games at home, Jokic was not in love with sports as a young child. He was self-admittedly overweight, and did not like activities that required physical exertion. He loved to drink Coca Cola and was a big fan of a popular Balkan breakfast called burek, which is tasty but not the most healthy option to start the day.

Nikola Jokić – International Basketball Career

It is interesting to hear stories about how NBA centers developed through their adolescent years. Sometimes, it seems like basketball can be forced upon taller kids because it is assumed that they would love having their way with smaller players.

For Jokic, his initial relationship with the game was nuanced. He certainly loved to play the sport since his early years, but usually did not have the stamina to play a full game or for several hours because of his physique. If he was going to realize his full potential, and dedicate himself to the sport, the first thing he would have to do would be to improve his conditioning.

His professional basketball journey started while he played for a team based in Novi Sad, Serbia called Vojvodina. Jokic was on the junior team, and had been excelling against the competition he faced. However, there wasn’t much consideration from the club to advance him to the first team, or even let him practice against some of their top tier players.

European sports agent Misko Raznatovic read about the type of production Jokic was putting up in the newspaper, and had a feeling that he could become something special. He read reports about Jokic’s less than ideal physical build, but wanted to have the teenager play for a different team who would help him build better habits.

Raznatovic’s hopes and dreams would become a reality. The Serbian basketball player would immediately get a chance to contribute for a different club called Mega Vizura. Their head coach did not waste any time immersing Nikola Jokic with his first team players, and it was only a couple of months before he would become a significant part of their rotation. This was even more impressive considering that the team did not allow him to practice for the first two weeks of his time there, because of his lack of conditioning.

The center from Sombor would improve every year with Mega. In the 2013-2014 campaign, there were glimpses of the type of player Jokic could blossom into. He played in 37 total games, and averaged around 11 points, six rebounds and two and a half assists.

In his final season with Mega, Jokic would take home a Most Valuable Player award in the Adriatic League, and averaged a double-double.

Nikola Jokić – National Team Career

When a premier NBA player is born outside of the United States, many times the value they have to their home country’s national team may even exceed their worth to their professional club. Nikola Jokic has had an interesting experience representing Serbia. His numbers do not jump off of the stat sheet, as his averages of nine points, six rebounds and two assists in the 2016 Olympics are solid but not spectacular. However, the team brought back the silver medal, which was a big deal for the country.

From a numbers perspective, Jokic played better in the 2019 FIBA World Cup, averaging over 11 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Nuggets fans might rejoice that the national club has only played him an average of 22 minutes per contest, which does not put a lot of additional wear and tear on his body. The Serbian team features other NBA talent as well, such as Bogdan Bogdanovic, Nemanja Bjelica and Boban Marjanovic.

Nikola Jokić – Personal Hobbies

As superb of a basketball player as Nikola Jokic has become, he has developed other notable interests over the course of his lifetime. Growing up in Serbia, he fell in love with horses at a young age. He appreciate their majestic beauty, and liked to ride them as a kid. During his teenage years, Jokic started to develop an interest in horse racing, which exists through the present day.

Nikola Jokić – Denver Nuggets

Nikola Jokic’s progression in Serbia was being monitored by an NBA team based nearly 5,800 miles away. The Denver Nuggets spent a lot of time scouting players in Europe, and doubled down on prospects from the region in the 2014 NBA Draft. The organization made a trade on draft night to acquire Chicago Bulls first round selection Jusef Nurkic, who grew up in Bosnia. To additionally, fortify their front line, they took Jokic with a second round pick in that very same draft.

Jokic did not report to the Nuggets immediately after he was drafted. Denver selected him right before his third season with Mega, and Jokic decided to play an extra season in Serbia, which was the campaign where he was named MVP of that league.

Even though Nurkic had a year under his belt before Jokic joined the team in 2015-2016, Denver did not glue the latter to the bench to ease him into NBA action. With the Nuggets in rebuilding mode, Nikola Jokic started 55 games, and posted 17 double-doubles in his first year in the league. The unheralded second round pick was named to the NBA All-Rookie first team, and his career was off to a promising start.

The seeds of what he would eventually become were planted in his second NBA season. Head coach Michael Malone made the bold decision to entrust Jokic with more offense initiating responsibility, which was counterintuitive to the guard-driven direction the league had been heading in. Jokic registered his first career double digit assist game in December 2016 against the Minnesota Timberwolves, where he had 16 points, 11 dimes and eight rebounds.

Denver would barely miss out on the playoffs in the Western Conference in his second and third seasons, but Jokic’s play and the team’s would increase a level in 2018-2019. For the first time, the Serbian center would average over 20 points per game, start every single contest for Denver, and was named to the All-Star team at age 23. The Nuggets ended up winning 54 games, and advanced to the second round of the postseason with a young core that included former Kentucky college basketball star Jamal Murray.

Due to some unforeseen circumstances, the 2019-2020 NBA season might go down as the craziest in league history. Due to the pandemic, the NBA had to shut down the season, only to pick it back up four months later at a singular site called “The Bubble.” Before the schedule was paused, the Nuggets were 43-22, and seemed to be peaking at the right time. When the regular season concluded in “The Bubble”, Denver’s performances were uneven, leaving fans to wonder how they would fare once the postseason began.

Denver’s first round playoff series did not get off to a positive start against the Utah Jazz. Donovan Mitchell was locked in with some dynamic scoring games, and the Nuggets found themselves down three games to one in the series. To the team’s credit, they never gave up. Murray’s play ascended to another level, and Jokic ended up making the game winning basket on a spinning jump hook in game seven, to complete the historic comeback.

The Nuggets would once again get off to a slow start in the semifinals against the Los Angeles Clippers. They also fell behind three games to one in that series, but with their experience and fortitude from the prior round, Denver was not out of the mix. They would force another game seven, where Jokic posted a monster 16 point, 22 rebound, 13 assist triple double. Jamal Murray scored 40 points of his own, and the Nuggets ousted the favored Clippers.

Unfortunately for the team, their playoff run came to an end in the Western Conference Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers. Considering the circumstances and the results though, the Nuggets earned a lot of respect throughout the NBA.

Nikola Jokić – NBA MVP Award

His performance in “The Bubble” would be the springboard that Jokic would use to catapult his NBA career to a historic level. Simply put, he became virtually unstoppable in the 2020-2021 season. Jokic’s scoring averaged soared to 26 points per game. Simultaneously, his assists numbers also rose to a career high eight per game. He also shot a career high in free throw percentage. He received 91 first place votes for the league’s most prestigious honor, and won the NBA’s MVP trophy.

It is usually very difficult for players to win MVP in consecutive seasons, because voters generally like to reward a new narrative in the following season. However, Jokic’s case was setup perfectly for 2021-2022 given what happened at the end of last season. Jamal Murray tore his ACL in April 2021, and would go on to miss the entire following season. Additionally, talented third year player Michael Porter Jr. was only able to suit up in nine games, which put additional responsibility on Jokic to keep the team afloat.

The Serbian was more than up to the task, as the main catalyst of the team’s 48 regular season wins. It was a much closer vote, but Jokic was able to edge out Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid to win his second MVP award in as many years.

Nikola Jokić – NBA Future

With Murray and Porter Jr. likely to be back for the 2022-2023, Jokic’s numbers might take an expected dip next year. However, few would argue that he’s the best player on the Denver Nuggets, and that his performance will be as important to their fortunes as anyone in the league to their respective teams’. It has already been reported that Denver plans to offer Jokic a well deserved supermax extension, which will keep him with the Nuggets for many years to come.

Why Jokic is the MVP?

Nikola Jokic was the first player in NBA history to record over 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 500 assists in a season. He was also the sixth player in NBA history to lead his team in points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks in a season. Not to mention his averages: 27.1 ppg, 13.8 rpg, 7.9 apg and 1.5 spg.

Did Nikola Jokic attend college?

No, Nikola Jokić never attended college.

Why is Nikola Jokic called the Joker?

Mike Miller, a former Denver Nuggets teammate, had trouble pronouncing Jokic’s name. Due to that, Nikola Jokic nickname was born as a way to facilitate the pronounciation. Even the first three letters match!

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