Serbia improves Olympic chances with Nikola Jokic inclusion in squad

Late last summer, Aleksandar Žigic was dining at a pizzeria in Belgrade, the Serbian capital, where sports fans often recognized him. As a U.S. correspondent for Serbia's public broadcasting network, he is one of the few media personnel with regular access to the country's biggest basketball player.

But Žigic said he was particularly surprised and amused when the restaurant manager, whom he had never met before, interrupted his meal to ask him questions.

“Why didn't you convince Nikola Jokic to play in the championship?”

Jokic had decided not to play in the 2023 FIBA ​​World Cup, where Serbia won the silver medal. His absence from the national team comes as the Nuggets won their first NBA championship in franchise history. They played until mid-June to earn a championship parade in Denver, and the offseason was particularly short despite the lack of international games.

“The fans get very emotional about it,” Zigic said.

It was just the beginning of a months-long cycle of national intrigue and media mayhem.

“That's been one of the big questions in the country over the last year,” said Žigic of the Chicago-based Serbian broadcaster RTS. “Will Nikola play in the Olympics or not?”

The president of the Serbian Olympic Committee announced Jokic's intentions to play in October, but Jokic himself denied the allegations in an interview with Žigic earlier in the regular season. Even Jokic's closest friends were careful to distance themselves from him. Nuggets assistant coach Ognjen “Ogi” Stojakovic didn't address the topic until after Denver's season.

The answer finally was yes: Jokic is traveling with the Serbian national team this month for a series of exhibition games in preparation for the Paris Olympics, his first major international tournament since EuroBasket 2022.

“People are proud of everything Jokic has achieved in the NBA, but here the national team is considered more important than anything else,” Dusica Tasic, host of the RTS show “Road to Paris,” said in an email.

Jokic's softening of his attitude throughout the NBA season speaks to the immense pressure he faces, pressure the American superstar cannot comprehend. American basketball fans are accustomed to Olympic dominance to the point that it weakens their emotional attachment to the national team. Team USA has won gold medals four years in a row and seven of the last eight. The Dream Team and Redeem Team are essential icons of traditional American sports, not because they endured to win, but rather the opposite: the ease with which their talent overwhelmed opponents.

In Serbia, basketball is equally beloved — “like a religion,” Stojakovic likes to say — but even the modern European basketball powerhouses are a step below the U.S. Jokic is his national team's only NBA All-Star. If religion is an appropriate metaphor, he's its god. On the scarred shoulders of the center from Sombor rests the prayers and ambitions of a nation.

“It's a big burden because he's the best basketball player in the world,” said Stojakovic, who has been Serbia's coach since last summer. “People identify with athletes and with sport. They all have high expectations, especially of the national team. … There's a lot of pressure on Nikola to play. And it's not just Nikola, all the athletes play in all the big tournaments.”

That's why Stojakovic supported Jokic's decision to sit out last year, why he “waited until basically the last moment to talk to him about the Olympics” this year, and why he finally shifted focus after the Nuggets were eliminated from the playoffs. The 42-year-old coach believes it's important to be mindful of Jokic's unique position.

“I try to evaluate him as a person, as a friend,” Stojakovic said. “I know Nikola felt bad last year because he wasn't ready to play. He was mentally exhausted. He was physically exhausted. And I know how bad he felt because he wasn't with his mates last summer.”

In fact, Zigic tried to explain to Serbia fans over the radio that Jokic has a deep interest in playing for the national team and that it would not have been an easy decision for him to miss the World Cup, especially since he was so exhausted after winning the NBA title.

“The funny thing, I don't know if it's funny or not, but there were some people who were happy that the Nuggets didn't make it to the Finals this year,” Zigic said. “They thought, 'OK, now he'll have more time to rest after the NBA season, come to Serbia early, go to the horse races and then focus on the Olympics.' And that's exactly what happened.”

Jokic last played in the Olympics when he was 21 and never won an MVP trophy. He only started in the NBA for half a season. Serbia brought home a silver medal from Brazil in 2016, a tournament they played well in, even though they lost by 30 points to the U.S.

Eight years later, the situation is very different. Jokic now needs a trophy case to honor him. With him on the team, Serbia's expectations are high. According to a media reader survey, 37% of Serbian fans expect the national team to reach the final, and 23% expect them to win the gold medal in the 12-team tournament. Only 19% of voters expect the team to be eliminated in the quarterfinals or group stage.

National team coach Svetislav Pesic has tried to keep the fuss to a minimum, especially with Serbia scheduled to open its group stage match against the United States on July 28. Serbia's first two exhibition matches were played behind closed doors to keep a low profile. “The Serbian media found out about the results through the Dutch media,” Zigic said. Pesic has also publicly said the 2024 U.S. roster will be better than the 1992 Dream Team he played against in the Olympics as Germany's coach (the U.S. won 111-68).

“He asked the journalists not to get people too excited,” Žigic said of Pesic. “He said the goal was to come second in the group, but then he said the selection (for the quarterfinals) would be difficult because Serbia would play the first or second place team from another group. … Not to get people excited, not to write a lot of articles saying, 'Serbia is the only team that can beat the U.S. in the Olympics.'”

Are these comments just tactics? Is he maneuvering around the outcome of group stage matches? In an ominous warm-up game last Wednesday, Team USA thumped Serbia, 105-79, in Abu Dhabi.

“Jokic is apparently not a magician and Serbia does not have absolute superiority over him, but the Serbian people and journalists believe in miracles,” Dasic said.

Jokic, meanwhile, isn't giving interviews. When he arrived at the Belgrade hotel where he and his teammates met before training camp, photographers followed him like paparazzi from the car to the hotel door. It's all part of the extracurricular activities Jokic despises in his day job and wants to escape to when he goes home each offseason.

Why is he willing to endure the publicity this offseason? It's for basketball and friendship.

“Everything is going well,” Stojakovic said in a phone interview from Abu Dhabi. “I say that because I know how much the players love each other and love spending time together. It's not just about basketball, it's about friendship. Of course, it's about winning and competing, but it's also about friendship and accomplishing something that will be remembered for the rest of your life. From that standpoint, I think everything is going well.”