The Eventful Summer of NBA Star Nikola Jokic

HOURS AFTER THE Denver Nuggets’ first championship parade and a night of epic partying in Las Vegas, Nikola Jokic hopped on a plane back to his personal paradise in Serbia. If the newly minted NBA Finals MVP thought he would slip into obscurity for a few months, he instead found basketball fans worldwide enjoying a side of his life few had seen before.

After only two days in his hometown of Sombor, thousands recorded Jokic’s every move when he visited a local racetrack to watch his horses compete in his other passion — harness racing. And so began the “Summer of Jokic” — 107 days of the two-time league MVP (and ESPN’s NBArank No. 2 player this season) living his best life.

Whether it was dancing and pumping his fist in a crowd while singing along to live music or celebrating one of his horse racing victories or belting out Serbian songs while shirtless, Jokic starred in several viral moments that pulled the curtain back on one of the NBA’s most private superstars.

Jokic’s legend grew even larger when the 6-foot-11, 284-pound center deftly executed a front flip off a raft during a July trip on the Tara River that flows through neighboring Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina — perhaps more impressive than his “Sombor Shuffle” 3-point heave over Los Angeles Lakers big man Anthony Davis in the Western Conference finals. That even prompted San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich to call his Denver counterpart, Michael Malone. “What the hell is your guy doing?” Popovich asked about Jokic, according to Malone. “I’ve been in that river, man. What is he, crazy?”

From when Jokic’s shortest offseason at home began on June 16 to when he finally returned to Denver on Oct. 1, the challenge was to try to pack in as much as he could. Time with his family and horses is so vital to Jokic that he surprisingly groaned “I need to go home” when reminded of the championship parade.

It’s why Josh Kroenke, Nuggets team president and governor, did not exchange text messages with Jokic like he normally does during the summer. “We all kind of left him alone,” Kroenke said. “For him to get away from basketball, be with his family and reconnect with who he is fundamentally is only going to be a benefit for the Nuggets and for basketball because he comes back fresh.”

Jokic, though, didn’t work on just his dance moves this offseason. Even if Jokic claimed he touched a basketball only “a couple of times” this summer, he largely stuck to an offseason routine that has produced two MVP trophies, a championship and a Finals MVP all in the past three seasons with hopes of a title repeat. “He was practicing and playing with some of the guys on team right there in Sombor,” Malone said during training camp. “I don’t know if he was in the gym with a ball a ton, but I know he was working and trying to stay in the best shape possible. “I always , ‘Is he OK mentally?’ always tough to leave Sombor, his mother, his father, his friends, the horses, and I worry about the mental aspect of coming back to Denver. But he’s been great. He seems like he’s in a good place and I’m really encouraged by that.”

If only Jokic could have kept all of the singing and dancing off social media. “People are bored,” Jokic explained of fans capturing his summer. “Same as , they live a boring life so they want to record people a little bit more. “You’re not supposed to see that.”

“THE SUMMER OF JOKIC” even featured a rare cameo appearance by a teammate. For the second straight offseason, Aaron Gordon’s summer vacation took him to Europe and reunited him with Jokic. The world-traveling power forward whom Malone likens to Marco Polo visited London, Mallorca, Malaga, Geneva, Hong Kong, Beijing and Tokyo this offseason. But one of Gordon’s favorite stops on his globe-trotting itinerary was Serbia.

Gordon, who traveled to Prague the previous offseason to watch Jokic and the Serbian national team play in the EuroBasket tournament, got the full Jokic experience in August. Over three days, Jokic took Gordon around Sombor, to nearby Novi Sad, a lake house, his favorite restaurants and, of course, the racetrack.

Gordon marveled at the culture and the simple life of a city of around 40,000 people. He described how one can walk from one side of Sombor to the other “in maybe 35 minutes” and just how calm it is there compared to the stressful rush-hour way of life in American cities. “His routine over there, his way of life, very congruent,” Gordon told ESPN. “I could see his peace. The peace of mind translates onto the court. That’s what makes him such a good player.”

Gordon also fell in love with the food and Jokic’s favorite dish: fish stew. “The food is amazing. There’s huge portions,” Gordon said while comparing Sombor to “a town out of a storybook.” “The architecture is beautiful,” Gordon added. “It seems like each one of the buildings is unique … It’s very wholesome, their easy way of life.”

Jokic even converted Gordon into a harness racing fan. Gordon hopped and clapped as one of Jokic’s horses finished first in a race and later proudly hoisted the trophy next to his teammate for photos afterward. Gordon joked that he wanted to place a bet on Jokic’s horse, but the big man said, “Hey Aaron, don’t jinx me.”

As he has on the court, Jokic has found success on the track. “I have in France, Italy, Serbia — they’re all winning races,” he said. “So I’m happy. They don’t need to win racing. That’s my hobby. I just wish they’re healthy and they run good. “When I finish my career, I’m going to do that. I’m going to have a lot of horses.”

Jokic, though, still has plenty of triple-doubles left in him. And one of the Nuggets he has developed a connection with is Gordon. Jokic assisted Gordon 155 times last season, second only behind James Harden’s 244 assists to Joel Embiid, according to ESPN Stats & Information. “Me and him have better chemistry off the court than we do on the court,” Gordon said. “And that’s saying something.”

One part of Gordon’s visit that didn’t make social media was his workout with Jokic, who keeps his training sessions offline.

While he didn’t visit this summer, Eichenberger has worked out with Jokic several times in Sombor. With the help of a Serbian counterpart, Eichenberger adjusted Jokic’s normal offseason training to a shorter version (107 days compared to the average 150 days) and sent workout specifics via an app. Jokic hit the weight room twice in his first week at