Nikola Jokic headlines Serbia’s EuroBasket roster announcement

With EuroBasket 2025 tipping off in Riga, Latvia, next month, Serbia announced its 17-man roster, which features significant NBA talent. The 2025 Serbian squad will be led by Denver Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic. 

Joining Jokic in Team Serbia’s tricolor from the NBA ranks are Los Angeles Clippers guard Bogdan Bogdanovic, Oklahoma City Thunder guard Nikola Topic, Miami Heat forward Nikola Jovic, and Washington Wizards center Tristan Vukcevic. 

As Serbia’s biggest star and a three-time MVP, the Sombor native will likely assume a leadership role representing his home nation in an international basketball competition. The 30-year-old Jokic took on a more vocal approach than years past, per scenes in Netflix’s “Court of Gold,” and that leadership will need to carry over from this Serbian team to the Nuggets next season.  

Serbia’s NBA Talent-Rich Roster

The Serbia roster, which includes five NBA players among coach Svetislav Pesic’s initial 17-man lineup, highlights the Balkan nation’s prowess in producing basketball talent. In addition to Jokic and the aforementioned four other NBAers, Serbia’s 2025 EuroBasket roster includes several others with previous NBA experience, including Marko Guduric, Vasilije Micic, Filip Petrusev, and Alen Smailagic. 

Given this strong contingent of NBA expertise on the roster, this might be the most talented team Serbia (not Yugoslavia) has ever put together for an international tournament. 

Despite fielding a roster including Jokic alongside two other NBA pros, Nemanja Bjelica and Aleksej Pokuševski, Serbia was surprisingly eliminated by Italy in the Round of 16 after winning Group E at EuroBasket 2022. 

Let’s hope the star-studded roster means we get to watch Jokic compete for another championship this summer. 

Can Jokic Bring Home EuroBasket Gold? 

The Serbian national team is gathering in Belgrade today to begin its preparations for the European basketball championship. 

Next week, Serbia will face Bosnia and Herzegovina and Poland in two friendly matches at the Belgrade Arena before traveling to Cyprus, Greece, and Munich, Germany, for a pair of preparatory tournaments. Team Serbia will wrap up its EuroBasket preparations “with a spectacle” when welcoming Luka Doncic, former Nugget Vlatko Cancar, and the rest of Team Slovenia on August 21 in Belgrade. 

EuroBasket 2025 will see Serbia compete in Group A against Czechia (aka the Czech Republic), Estonia, Latvia, Portugal, and Turkiye. Sixteen of the 24 competing nations will advance to the tournament’s knockout stage. Should Serbia again advance to the Round of 16, Jokic and Co. will take on a team from Group B, which includes Finland, Germany, Great Britain, Lithuania, Montenegro, and Sweden. 

Recent FIBA power rankings spotlight Serbia, France, Germany, and Greece as top contenders, but look out for Slovenia, Spain, host nation Latvia, and Lithuania, led by the newest Denver Nuggets center, Jonas Valanciunas. 

For Serbia to win the gold, the Joker will, of course, need to play like his brilliant self, but this year’s NBA talent-laden Serbian national team roster should ease that burden a bit. I’m personally just excited that the world gets to watch its best basketball player do his thing on an international stage before the NBA season tips off.