The past few days have been a whirlwind for Nikola Jokic. The Denver Nuggets superstar led Serbia to a bronze medal, celebrated, and enjoyed the medal ceremony. If you thought for a second that Jokic would spend a minute longer in France than he needed to, think again.
Winning the 2023 championship meant Jokic and his teammates had a shortened offseason. His offseason trip to Serbia was brief. This summer, the Olympics also shortened his time at home. Both offseasons were cut short for good reasons, as there's not much better than winning your first NBA title and representing your home country on the world's biggest stage.
He's soaking up every moment he has left in Serbia before the season starts. Less than a day after winning bronze in France, Jokic was back in Serbia at the track to watch horses race.
Picked up the medal and was 5 countries away at the racetrack in 15 hours I’m crying https://t.co/H50FdMcYyz
— subscribe to the state of the league patreon (@JoestarJokic) August 11, 2024
More importantly, he watched his horse Brenno Laumar win. You should've known that Jokic wouldn't miss that.
24 hours after winning bronze in Paris: Nikola Jokic in the Winner's Circle in Sombor after his horse Brenno Laumar won the biggest race of the day. pic.twitter.com/P5R7s01bOd
— Harrison Wind (@HarrisonWind) August 12, 2024
Jokic returns to Serbia ASAP after Olympics to watch his horse race
Jokic's love for horses doesn't stop during the NBA season. As Jamal Murray said, the big man watching horse races on his phone is common, even at the Nuggets facility.
Nikola Jokic scouting horses at practice😂 pic.twitter.com/BPS4wpaqjR
— NBA Retweet (@RTNBA) October 17, 2023
If you asked Jokic if he'd rather play basketball or watch horses race, he'd probably choose the latter option. It's part of who he is. When the Nuggets visit Philadelphia to play the Sixers, Jokic squeezes in a trip to Jersey to visit Tim Tetrick, a legend in harness racing.
He'll take as many trips to the track as he can over these next few weeks before he'll have to put his main hobby aside to focus on basketball.
Whenever Jokic retires (and hopefully that day isn't anytime soon), it's safe to assume that he'll rarely (if ever) visit the United States. If you want to find him (and he won't want to be found), all you'll have to do is go to Serbia and find horses.