Jokic Serbian NBA Star

Nikola Jokić (Sombor, February 19, 1995) is a Serbian basketball player. He plays in the center position and currently plays for the Denver Nagces. He played for Mega Leks for three seasons and was named the most useful player in the Adriatic League. He was selected in the second round of the 2014 NBA Draft as the 41st pick by Denver Nuggets with whom he signed a contract in July 2015. playoffs in the 2018/19 seasonsafter ten years, Denver went through the first round of the playoffs. In the same season, he was selected in the top five of the NBA league, making him the fifth European player to succeed after Dirk Nowitzki, Mark Gasol, Joaquim Noah and Janis Adetokumbo

Jokic achieved the fastest triple-double in the history of the NBA league in just 14 minutes and 33 seconds spent on the field. He also became the European basketball player with the largest number of triple-double matches and entered among the 10 best players in this parameter in the history of the NBA league.

Junior career

Jokić performed in the younger categories in the jersey of Vojvodina Srbijagas. He shone in the Vojvodina jersey in the HEBA Junior League of Serbia. In ten matches in the Novi Sad red and white jersey, he recorded 25.6 points and 11.9 rebounds, with an average valorization of 32.9. The invitation of Mega Vizura followed, with which he reached the semifinals of the HEBA league and the finals of the Euroleague qualifying tournament in Belgrade.

MEGA LEKS

He started his professional career in the Mega Vizura jersey in the 2012/13 season. He was the most useful player of the 4th round of the Development League of Serbia in the match against FMP with 26 points, 13 rebounds and five assists. In the following 2013/14 season, he spent many more minutes on the field for the senior team. He played 25 games in the Adriatic League, averaging 11.4 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. He also played 13 games with the team in the Serbian Super League. At the final tournament of the Radivoje Korac Cup with the Mega team, he reached the final Nikola had the opportunity to bring his team to the throne, but he missed in the last seconds of the game, so the Red Star still won this trophy. In round.

DENVER NUGGETS

Jokic signed a contract with the Denver Nuggets on July 28, 2015. [10] He made his NBA debut on October 28, 2015, with a Denver away win against the Houston Rockets and scored two points. On February 1, 2016, Jokic recorded his best scoring game of the season when he scored 27 points and added 14 rebounds in a 112: 93 victory over the Toronto Raptors. In February 2016, he was also a participant in the All-Star Weekend. In the "rising stars" game (players from the first and second seasons in the NBA), Jokić scored 12 points with eight rebounds and four assists for the world team, which was defeated by a player from the USA with 157: 154. In his first season, he played 80 games for Denver, of which he was a starter 55 times.Jokic averaged 10 points, seven rebounds, 2.4 assists and one stolen ball in 21.7 minutes on average per game. Jokic was third in the voting for the newcomer of the year. He was fourth in rebounds, fifth in stolen balls, seventh in assists, eighth in points and 10th in minutes played among other "rukija". Jokic also recorded 14 "double-double" effects.He was also selected in the top five rookies, along with Carl-Anthony Towns, Kristaps Porzingis, Devin Booker and Jahil Okafor. Towns was the first pick of the 2015 NBA Draft, Okafor third, Porzingis fourth, and Booker thirteenth. Jokic is the only one from the best hand of the five selected in the second round of the draft as the 41st selection, only that, unlike the just mentioned four, he was selected in 2014 in the draft.

Season 2016/17

He recorded his first triple-double in his NBA career on February 3, 2017. He led Denver to a 121-117 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks, scoring 20 points, with 13 rebounds and 11 assists in 32 minutes on the floor. Seven days later, Jokic set a career record with 40 points in a victory over New York at Madison Square Garden. Nikola Jokić became the second Serb in the NBA league to score forty or more points in one match, preceded by Predrag Pedja Stojakovic. On February 14, Jokic led the Nuggets to victory against the Golden State Warriors with his second triple-double in his career, scoring 17 points, 21 rebounds (career record) and 12 assists. On the All-Star weekend of 2017, he played again in the "rising star" match and with 12 points, 11 rebounds and 8 assists was one of the better players in the world team that defeated the USA team with 150: 141. He also participated in a skills competition, where players show their skills in dribbling, shooting, passing, speed and precision.Jokic scored his third triple-double of his career on February 28, scoring 19 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists for his team's 125-107 victory over the Chicago Bulls. Only a day later, Jokic achieved a new triple double. He scored 13 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists in the win against the Milwaukee Bucks. On March 16, 2017, he scored the fifth triple double of his career, scoring 17 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists in a 129-114 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers. Fifteen days later, he made his sixth triple double. He scored 26 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists in his 122-114 defeat to the Charlotte Hornets. Denver failed to qualify for the playoffs, and they finished the season with 40 wins and 42 losses. Nikola played 73 games for Denver this season and played an average of 28 minutes, during which time he scored 16.7 points per game, had 9.8 rebounds and 4.9 assists. All this with a great shot from the game 58%. With his six triple-double performances, Jokic was the fourth player of the season in this category, ahead of Russell Westbrook (42), James Harden (22) and LeBron James (13).

Season 2017/18

On November 7, 2017, Jokic set a new career record with 41 points in his team's 112: 104 victory over the Brooklyn Nets. He was named the best player of the week of the Western Conference in the period from November 6 to November 12. 2017.

fIn the victory against the Milwaukee Bucks on February 15, 2018, he achieved the fastest triple-double in the history of the NBA league in just 14 minutes and 33 seconds on the floor. Jokic led Denver with his third consecutive triple-double in a win against the San Antonio Spurs and became the only player alongside Wilt Chamberlain to score his third consecutive triple-double, being 2.08 and higher. [32] In April 2018, he was named the best player of the week of the Western Conference for the second time in the season.

Denver failed to make the playoffs as they lost in the last game of the regular season after overtime against Minnesota. Jokic finished the game with 35 points (14/25 from the game), of which he scored 17 in the third quarter, but also had ten rebounds, three assists and one stolen ball.

Season 2018/19

Jokic officially signed a new contract with the Denver Nuggets on July 1, 2018, according to which he will earn 146.5 million dollars in five seasons. He became the highest paid Serbian athlete of all time. He continued with good games in the 2018/19 season. when he undoubtedly became the leader of the franchise. He provided one of the best games of the season on January 13, 2019 against Portland when he scored 40 points and had 8 assists

He was selected by the reserve coach at the All-Star Game in Charlotte, for the first time in his career. The NBA chose Jokić to participate in the All-Star Weekend Skills Competition. On the way, he won the playoffs with Denver, and in the first round they knocked out the San Antonio Spurs after seven games played, he was especially noticed in the decisive game when he scored a triple double.

Denver was eliminated in the semifinals by West of Portland, and Jokic was selected in the top five of the NBA League for the 2018/19 season, along with Steph Curry, James Harden, Paul George and Janis Adetokunbo. He became only the second Denver player in the franchise's history to make it to the best team of the season and the first Serb to do so. He was fourth in the selection for the most useful player in the NBA league last season

Season 2019/20

On January 6, 2020, he scored 47 points against the Atlanta Hawks in a 123-115 away victory, a record for Jokić's career in the number of points scored in the game. For the second year in a row, Jokic was chosen to play in the All-Star game of NBA stars.

Representation

With the Serbian U19 national team, he won a silver medal at the 2013 World Cup in the Czech Republic.

He made his debut for the senior national team of Serbia in July 2016 at the qualifying tournament for the Olympic Games, which was played in the Belgrade Arena. Serbia won the tournament and qualified for the games in Rio. Jokic started with 12 points and eight rebounds against Puerto Rico, then scored 17 against Angola (six rebounds), then 19 against the Czech Republic (eight rebounds), and he left the best for the end. In 22 minutes on the floor in the grand final against Puerto Rico, Jokic scored 23 points, collected eight rebounds and shared six assists, and won the tournament's Most Valuable Player (MVP) title. He averaged 17.8 points and 7.5 rebounds per game in four games.

He won a silver medal at the Olympic Games in Rio in 2016, and Serbia was defeated in the fight for gold by the United States. Jokic played one of the best matches for the national team against the Americans in the group stage, he was the most efficient in the Serbian team with 25 points. [49] He averaged 9.1 points, 6 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game in 8 games played.

Jokic received an invitation to play in the European Championship in 2017, but he refused in order to individually prepare for the new NBA season.

Game style

Jokic plays in the center position, and it is often said in basketball terminology that the center is a classic "five". It can also play in the position of wing center due to its great strength and mobility

He is characterized by a selfless game that is dedicated to the team and often has the most assists in matches. Jokic is the first European in the NBA League in terms of the number of triple doubles scored, which has become his trademark over time. He is also assessed as a versatile (all round) player, who very often knows how to take on the role of playmaker and transfer the ball to the opponent's half of the field.

He received recognition for his game from the NBA, which won him in the 2018/19 season. chose the top five as the best center of the league

Private life

Nikola's mother is a nurse, and her father Branislav is an agricultural engineer. He has two older brothers, Nemanja and Strahinja, both of whom had a great influence on his development as a player and a person. He married Natalija Maćešić in October 2020.

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