He is the NBA superstar who loves basketball the least. He went to the United States just to end his long-distance relationship with his girlfriend. Playing in the NBA was just a side thing. Unexpectedly, he turned from an underdog second-round pick into a three-time regular season MVP winner, leading his team to win the championship and earning the Finals MVP. So far in his NBA career, he has earned $250 million, bought a mansion, married his girlfriend, and now has two children, living a sweet life as a family of four. This player who has achieved both love and career success is Nikola Jokic.
Born on February 19, 1995, in Sombor, a small city in the northwest of Serbia, Jokic's parents were not professional athletes, nor were any of their ancestors. However, both his father and mother are tall, giving birth to three sons who are also tall. Jokic's older brother is 2 meters 10 centimeters tall, his second brother is 1 meter 98 centimeters tall, and Jokic himself stands at 2 meters 11 centimeters.
Jokic's two older brothers are two years apart in age, but Jokic is more than ten years younger than them. When he was still a primary school student, his two older brothers had already been recruited into the youth team due to their outstanding height, and he was also influenced by his brothers to fall in love with the sport of basketball. However, he initially only regarded basketball as a hobby and never thought about playing professionally. His favorite sport is horse racing, which remains true to this day, as he gets more excited about winning a horse racing championship than an NBA championship.
During his student days, Jokic enjoyed eating junk food, with hamburgers, fried chicken, and cola being his sources of happiness. The price of this happiness was gaining a lot of weight, and his dynamic talent was particularly poor, as he couldn't jump high or run fast, walking like an overloaded truck swaying back and forth. However, his continuously growing height still connected him with basketball.
His parents convinced him, who didn't like to move much, to accept formal training. On one hand, they felt that his height could give him a place in the basketball field, and on the other hand, they hoped he could lose weight through training, worried that if he continued to gain weight, it might lead to health problems.
When he first arrived at the training team, Jokic, due to his large weight and dislike of activity, always thought about how to play more easily. He believed that shooting and passing more would be a good method. Over time, he honed solid shooting fundamentals and passing skills. At the age of 15, he was admitted to the youth team of the Serbian professional league due to his outstanding performance. During the two years in the youth team, he lost a lot of weight, becoming more agile, and his basketball IQ improved significantly. His various techniques matured, and he began to exert dominance in games.
At the age of 17, he was exceptionally promoted to the adult team, but most of the first season was still spent playing in the youth team, with few opportunities to step onto the professional court. It wasn't until the second season that he gained stable playing time, averaging 11.4 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 2 assists in 25 minutes per game. After the season, he registered for the NBA draft and was ultimately selected by the Nuggets in the 41st pick.
After learning that he was selected by the NBA while at home in Serbia, Jokic immediately flew to the United States. However, his first destination was not Denver but Oklahoma, because his girlfriend, Natalia Macesic, was attending university there. Later, Jokic revealed in an interview that he participated in the NBA draft just to find a job he could do in the United States and then end his long-distance relationship with his girlfriend.
Both Jokic and Macesic hail from Sombor, Serbia, and met at a coffee shop. At that time, Jokic had just joined the youth team, while Macesic was still a high school student. In the blooming age of first love, they made a good impression on each other during their first meeting. By the second meeting, Jokic had fallen in love with Macesic. However, he was quite fat and shy at the time, so he didn't confess to Macesic right away. It wasn't until six months after they met that he mustered the courage to express his feelings. Macesic didn't agree to him right away either, saying she needed to think seriously about it. Just when Jokic thought it was hopeless, he received a positive response from Macesic the next day.
They were each other's first love, with a pure and beautiful relationship. They cherished this romance very much and hoped to stay together. However, fate did not favor them, and a few months after they got together, Macesic's family immigrated to the United States, forcing the young couple into a long-distance relationship. When both sets of parents thought this relationship would end due to the distance, they maintained close contact instead, with their feelings growing stronger and their attachment to each other deepening. It was also from that point that Jokic had the idea of going to the United States to play in the NBA.
After being selected by the Nuggets in 2014, he flew to the United States to celebrate with his girlfriend as soon as possible, briefly alleviating the longing before rationally considering his future. Following his girlfriend's suggestion, he decided to return to the Serbian professional league to play for another year, continuing to improve himself in a league with more opportunities so that he could better adapt to the NBA in the future.
There is also an interesting reason worth mentioning. At that time, although he was already a professional player, he was addicted to cola and couldn't break free, drinking three liters every day. Once he entered the NBA, he couldn't indulge in cola anymore. That year, while improving his skills, he also forced himself to gradually wean himself off cola. On his first flight to Denver in 2015, after finishing his last can of cola, Jokic sighed, "I think this is crazy! Don't let cola knock you down."
Such an undisciplined player falling to the second round is quite normal. His scouting report read, "An ordinary player lacking remarkable speed and leaping ability. Facing NBA players, he may struggle, making it difficult for him to stay. Although he is young, his advantages will be limited due to the lack of explosiveness."
In order to survive in the NBA and earn more money to provide a better life for his girlfriend, Jokic improved his diet, replacing carbonated drinks with protein drinks. After successfully losing weight and becoming more agile, his excellent basketball IQ and solid fundamentals greatly made up for his lack of dynamic talent. He quickly transformed from a substitute to a starter, then to the team's interior core, and finally became the team's first choice.
After Jokic established himself in the Nuggets, his girlfriend, Macesic, transferred to Metropolitan State University of Denver and moved into Jokic's apartment. Her arrival motivated Jokic, who played better year after year. In the summer of 2018, he received a five-year, $147 million early renewal contract. Afterwards, he and his girlfriend moved into a mansion, where they lived with Jokic's two older brothers. Macesic's gentle care and the two older brothers' protective presence made Jokic happy every day.
On October 25, 2020, Jokic married Macesic, his lover of nine years, in Serbia. Taking on a new identity meant assuming more responsibility, and he became even more diligent, losing weight and perfecting his skills. In the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 seasons, he averaged a comprehensive stat line of 27+10+8, winning the regular season MVP twice in a row, and in the summer of 2022, he received a five-year, $270 million top-tier renewal contract.
However, at that time, he was still plagued by doubts, as his two top-tier teammates, Murray and Porter Jr., were frequently injured, and he failed to achieve good results in the playoffs, turning the regular season honors into a burden. Fortunately, in the 2022-2023 season, he led a fully healthy and reinforced Nuggets team to the championship and won the Finals MVP, proving his strength. Of course, what made him happiest was that during the offseason that year, he also won a championship in a Serbian amateur horse racing competition.
Last season, Jokic once again won the regular season MVP but fell to the young Timberwolves in the playoffs. This season, the Nuggets experienced a period of turmoil, pushing Jokic to his peak, averaging 31.5 points, 13 rebounds, and 9.7 assists, all ranking in the top three in the league. He ranked first in average scoring, second in average assists, and third in average rebounds, single-handedly putting the Nuggets back on track. However, with the current roster, it is difficult to win another championship, but with Jokic, anything is possible.
In the future, Jokic may continue to write his own legend in the NBA, or he might suddenly retire, as he has already achieved what he once desired. Now, he and his longingly missed girlfriend have become a loving husband and wife, with two daughters and a fortune, no longer needing to prove himself in the NBA. Compared to fame and