Louisa Thomas reports on the Denver Nuggets’ star from Serbia and talks to teammates, coaches, and past N.B.A. legends about what makes him great.
“Nikola,” she began, and he nodded, as if to confirm that this was, in fact, his name. “They didn’t go away,” she said, talking about the Heat. “You had to take it.” Jokić praised his opponents, then admitted that it had been an ugly game. Although he had scored with ease, in his inimitable, gape-mouthed way, the Nuggets had missed more shots than usual, relying, atypically, on their defense to pull them through. “That’s why basketball is a fun sport, you know,” he continued. “It’s a live thing.
He recruited him to his team, which was founded in part to develop young players. It has been startlingly successful: in the past decade, the teams that have produced the most N.B.A. draft picks are Kentucky, Duke, U.C.L.A., Michigan, and Mega Basket. Milojević, who was Jokić’s first real professional coach, told Ražnatović that the young center was not yet in physical shape to play professional basketball—and also that he was going to be a star.