For most of his NBA career, Nikola Jokic has been a pretty quiet guy who keeps to himself. At times he has appeared to be so aloof that fans have made jokes about his level of interest and it became an old tired tripe to talk about how little Jokic cares about basketball and wondering if he even likes the sport.
Still to this day, people sometimes will question his love and passion for the sport and suggest that he could be a candidate to retire and go live a private life back in Serbia at any time. Sure, these things are possibilities, but just because Jokic isn’t a loud person, a big talker, or someone who is outwardly intense on the court doesn’t mean he doesn’t care.
In fact, if anything, Jokic probably cares about winning and his success as much as anyone in the league, he just has a different way of showing it. His play does most of the talking for him and his ability to keep a calm demeanor on the court at all times is a testament to his discipline.
Nikola Jokic does not like to lose
But he’s as competitive as they come and that was evidenced recently in an interview with the DNVR Nuggets Podcast, where assistant coach Olgi Stojakovic spoke about Nikola’s mindset. Stojakovic who hails from Serbia like Jokic, has been a part of the Nuggets’ staff since 2013 when he took over as the team’s assistant video coordinator.
Olgi was promoted to assistant coach for player development in 2016 and then named director of player development in 2019. Stojakovic likely knows Jokic as a player about as well as anyone. The two have a close relationship and have been there together through every NBA battle.
Jokic blames himself for every loss
Stojakovic was asked how much Jokic feels the weight of expectations and the pressure to win and vehemently iterated that the Joker very much feels the weight and pressure. He insisted that “Every loss, he thinks that we lost because of him” and stated that “he’s the guy that doesn’t like to lose”.
Check out the full video to truly capture the tone and seriousness of the conversation and the point should resonate even more. This has likely been clear to Nuggets fans for a long time, but to any skeptics still out there or anyone who just needed to hear it directly, here is the proof of just how much Jokic cares about winning.