Nikola Jokić and the Denver Nuggets will celebrate the city’s first NBA championship with a downtown parade on Thursday, but one question will follow the NBA Finals MVP all day: Will he make it to Serbia in time to see his horses race this weekend?
Jokić, 28, wrapped up a historic NBA Finals run Monday night, leading Hall of Famer Isaiah Thomas to call him one of the game’s most “legendary” players after winning back-to-back NBA MVP awards and delivering the franchise’s first championship.
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Yet, whether out of confidence or his famously “lowkey” demeanor, Jokić repeatedly told reporters after Monday’s 94-89 victory over the Miami Heat that he was eager to return home to Sombor, Serbia, to visit his horses.
Nikola Jokić #15 of the Denver Nuggets celebrated with his daughter Ognjena after the championship-clinching win at Ball Arena on June 12, 2023.
“On Sundays, I have my horse racing,” Jokić said. “I don’t know how I’ll get there [on time] for Thursday’s parade. Friday, maybe? I’m going to ask [Nuggets owner Josh Kroenke] for a plane.”
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When ESPN’s Lisa Salters asked him about finally holding the Larry O’Brien trophy, Jokić replied with little emotion: “It’s good.” He added, “The job is done, and now we can go home.”
The Denver Nuggets defeated the Miami Heat 94-89 in the 2023 NBA Finals. MVP Nikola Jokić (15) celebrated with his daughter, Ognjena, at Ball Arena on June 12.
Nikola Jokić #15 of the Denver Nuggets posed with his family after winning Game Five of the 2023 NBA Finals on June 12, 2023, at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado.
Nikola Jokić with his family. JESSE D. GARRABRANT/NBAE via Getty
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According to The Athletic, Jokić owns “more than half a dozen” horses. At 6-foot-11 and 284 pounds, Jokić remains deeply passionate about racehorses and enjoys spending time with them.
MVP of the NBA Finals Nikola Jokić (15) of the Denver Nuggets held his daughter, Ognjena, after leading his team to victory.
“I had two older brothers who played basketball,” he told SLAM Magazine in 2016. “I fell in love with basketball because of them. We’d always play together. But at some point, I got into horse racing. I just fell in love with horses, their beauty, and elegance. It was like a hobby. I wasn’t serious about it. And I wasn’t serious about basketball either. I was in between the two.”
His father, Branislav, told The Associated Press after Monday’s win that his son once wanted to be a horseman instead of a basketball player.
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“He started growing, in both height and size, and realized he could be a basketball player, but he had a great passion back then,” Branislav recalled. “He would say, ‘Dad, I want to be a horseman.’ And I would tell him, ‘Son, become a basketball player first, then a great horseman later.’”
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Nikola Jokić #15 of the Denver Nuggets posed for a photo with his family after winning Game Five of the 2023 NBA Finals on June 12, 2023, at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado.
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This photo, taken on June 25, 2019, shows Branislav Jokić, the father of Nikola Jokić, the Serbian basketball star playing for the NBA’s Denver Nuggets.
Nikola Jokić (15) of the Denver Nuggets celebrated his championship with his brother Strahinja after defeating the Miami Heat 94-89 at Ball Arena on June 12, 2023.
During the NBA season, Jokić visits stables across the United States while traveling with the Nuggets.
He has also formed a friendship with Hall of Fame New Jersey harness racer Tim Tetrick, who told The New York Daily News that the five-time NBA All-Star often visits and accompanies him to stables when the team plays on the East Coast. Once, Jokić even made his Nuggets teammates wait three hours while he worked with horses alongside Tetrick.
This picture, taken on June 25, 2019, shows Branislav Jokić, the father of Nikola Jokić, the Serbian basketball player for the Denver Nuggets.
Before Game 3 of the NBA Finals, Jokić texted Tetrick to check on racing. “I said, ‘You’ve got a game in 30 minutes,’” Tetrick recalled.
“I’m just a regular guy. ‘Lowkey,’” Tetrick told the Daily News. “You wouldn’t know he makes $40 million a year playing basketball. He shows up at the barn in sweatpants. Then he gets his training suit and jumps in—he just loves being there.”
Nikola Jokić (15) of the Denver Nuggets celebrated his NBA title with his brother Strahinja after defeating the Miami Heat 94-89 at Ball Arena on June 12, 2023.
Jokić will need to clear space in his locker, where he proudly displays a horse ribbon alongside his MVP trophies, after securing the NBA title and Finals MVP. He’ll also need more room in his stable, as he told ESPN’s Malika Andrews he plans to acquire another horse after the Nuggets’ championship win.