Nikola Jokic was alone near the Nuggets logo. On either side of him, his teammates and opponents were warming up.
It was Feb. 12 at Ball Arena, where Denver was about to play its final game before the NBA All-Star break. And Jokic was in his own world, entertaining himself with a basketball.
He rested it on his right foot, flicked it up to his knee, then directed it back to his foot. Balancing on his left leg, keeping the right floating above the ground, he juggled the ball like a soccer player. This went on for a few seconds, until he attempted a more advanced trick: the around-the-world, in which the juggler taps the ball in the air and brings his foot over the ball, circling it before it hits the ground.
Jokic pulled it off. But the maneuver caused a slight disruption in his balance, and he lost control a couple of touches later. The ball went flying toward the 3-point line. He chased it down and collected himself for the next try.
Soccer has influenced Jokic for years, not necessarily as an athlete but as a fan of competition in its many forms. As he takes the stage at his seventh consecutive NBA All-Star Game on Sunday, The Denver Post asked him to share a few of his favorite athletes across multiple sports, dating back to his youth in Serbia and the early days of his career.
Much like Jokic himself, the potential through lines are, a bit of an enigma. Some are known for their technical mastery. Others their sheer force of will. One plays a game that barely registers globally. While another shares the same sport as Jokic but played it in a much different manner.
So, what does the three-time MVP appreciate in an athlete? Even veteran teammate DeAndre Jordan was left stumped. “That’s a tough question to answer,” he said.
Soccer: The first love
On occasion, Jokic and Nuggets teammate Vlatko Cancar have rearranged Denver’s locker room into a miniature soccer pitch. The large laundry bins in the middle of the room become makeshift goalposts, positioned a few feet apart for teammates to trade penalty kicks.
The best goalie?
“Probably Nikola,” said Jordan.
Most of Jokic’s favorite athletes were footballers playing in Europe during the early aughts. “I followed soccer in that moment a lot, so there is a lot of soccer players,” he explained, lighting up as he reminisced about now-retired names.
Dutch center-back Jaap Stam. Senegal-born French midfielder Patrick Vieira. Italian play-making maestro Andrea Pirlo, whom Jokic admired because “he always looked like a gentleman on the field.” Argentine midfielder Juan Sebastian Veron.
Jokic appreciated popular strikers such as Thierry Henry and Ronaldo (Brazil), too, but he made a point to brainstorm players who were “maybe not that (obvious).”
“There was a bunch of guys that I kind of liked (who) are not maybe the main, main guys,” he told The Post. “They make a difference.”
As eminent a defender as Stam was, he certainly applies.
“When I was a player, people kept talking about my physical presence, and they were thinking that I only could use this and tackle the opposition to recover balls. This was not the only thing I could do,” Stam said in an email. “In Holland, we have been brought up to play out from the back, with the ball always in control from possession. Soon people started to realize that I was a complete player and was also tactically very good.
“We see a lot of different sports in Holland on television, and basketball is very popular. Jokic is a great player and very important for his team. I like, when I see him play, that he uses his strong physical presence, but combines this with his clever play and short passes to set up other players.”
Stam, now 52, was indeed characterized by brute force throughout his career. But his role was as a deterrent; Jokic’s imposing strength is often reserved for scoring in the post, not defending it.
If there’s a stylistic kinship between them, then, Stam believes it’s more nuanced. He blended that strength with his IQ to become one of the best defenders in the world during stints with Manchester United, Lazio and AC Milan. Known for his ability to read the game, he could outsmart opposing forwards and operate as a table-setter from the back line.
That might be the most coherent trend connecting Jokic’s favorite footballers: the synthesis of physical force and cerebral mastery. “There are big differences between both sports, but certain aspects are similar: positioning, scoring, accuracy in passing,” Stam said. “How to use your body to protect the ball or movement from your teammates to create space.”
Like Stam, Vieira has never met Jokic, so the former Arsenal and Inter Milan star can only speculate about the source of Jokic’s high regard for him.
“He’s got this kind of technical finesse to take shots from different positions that’s truly impressive,” Vieira said of Jokic. “… I was a ball-winner with some skill qualities, but my strength was my competitiveness. I was determined to win, determined to go into (one-on-one) challenges to win balls. … I think my game resonated with Jokic because of my competitiveness.”
Water Polo: The wild card
When Jokic traveled to Rio de Janeiro in 2016 for his first Olympics, he was the youngest player on the Serbian national team — an impressive budding talent, but still years away from evolving into a superstar capable of challenging Team USA for gold.
Jokic met a water polo player from his country in the Olympic Village. Dusan Mandic was among the youngest athletes on his roster, as well.
“We were basically kids who were trying to escape from the obligations sometimes (imposed by) the older players from our national teams,” Mandic said.
Jokic spent most of his free time at the Olympic Village playing Pro Evolution Soccer on the PlayStation 4 that Mandic had in his apartment. (“He was by far the best on PS4,” Mandic said.) They developed a casual friendship, and Jokic has followed Mandic’s career ever since.
Its trajectory has paralleled Jokic’s own. While he has collected MVP trophies in the NBA, Mandic has dominated his sport. Serbia won the gold medal in Rio, Tokyo and most recently, Paris, where Mandic led the tournament with 26 goals.
“He’s the best player in the world right now,” Jokic said.
His affinity for horse racing is well-documented, but water polo is another sport that suits Jokic. In 2020, he was described by The New York Times as “the water polo world’s favorite basketball player.” His stunning, one-handed outlet passes — often completed in a single fluid motion, without ever bringing the ball below his shoulders after palming the rebound — resemble water polo passes. It’s as if Jokic is treading imaginary water, keeping his throwing arm above the surface.
“I think that he learned everything from water polo and that he chose a wrong sport to play,” Mandic said. “These one-handed passes that he makes for sure have similarities. But the way he plays is so unique and genuine. It seems that everyone else plays basketball, but he is playing on a whole different level.”
As for why Mandic continues to strike a chord with Jokic beyond their friendship, though, his theory is more spiritual than physical.
“We both have Serbian ‘inat,'” he said, referencing a native word used to describe a stubborn or obstinate mentality. “He is dominating with ‘inat.'”
Basketball: The “right way”
Jokic remembers the shoes fondly. One of his older brothers had a pair when they were children.
“It was something white and blue,” he recalled. “I just remember it was T-Mac’s.”
The three-time MVP didn’t dream of NBA stardom when he was young like many professional basketball players once did, but he did have a particular fondness for one star: Tracy McGrady.
“I always kind of loved him. Probably in Toronto and Houston the most. I think he was a really good player,” Jokic said. “He was kind of a bigger guard who can do a little bit of everything. And he moved really good. I liked how he moved.”
McGrady made seven All-Star Games and seven All-NBA teams during his Hall of Fame career. He won two scoring titles in Orlando. But even though Jokic often operates as a point center for the Nuggets — a “bigger guard” of sorts — he insisted that he has never attempted to emulate McGrady.
“I think you can’t,” he said, laughing. “I think I’m not as fast as he is.”
Jokic will turn 30 next week, three days after the All-Star Game. He’s at a different stage of his life. He’s an athlete who inspires now, who is revered by fans — in Denver, in Serbia, globally. What he values in an athlete today is of great importance to the Nuggets.
One teammate, Christian Braun, thinks he has an idea of what that might be.
“He doesn’t care about anything as long as you play basketball the right way,” said Braun, who has developed a bond with the center. “You pass when somebody is open. You shoot it when you’re open. Play the right way. Make the extra pass and play defense. He appreciates those things. I think he tends to gravitate toward guys that approach the game the right way off the court, too.
“He’s obviously pointed out guys in the NBA (to me). He’s like, ‘Man, that’s a good player. I think he plays the right way.’ He says that all the time.”
