Centre for the Denver Nuggets Nikola Jokic always has one supporter in the stands: his wife Natalija Jokic.
Despite the fact that the couple married in October 2020, Natalija has been by Nikola’s side since they were teenagers. She relocated to Denver with Nikola when he joined the Nuggets in 2015, and she has been cheering on the two-time NBA MVP from the sidelines ever since.
Natalija can now be seen frequently at Nikola’s games with their daughter Ognjena. According to the Associated Press, Natalija posted a photo on Instagram in March 2023 of Ognjena holding Nikola’s game ball from his 100th triple-double, an accomplishment only five other players in NBA history have ever achieved.
When Nikola broke another NBA record that April (he became the first NBA player to average 25 points, ten rebounds, and five assists in his first 50 career postseason games, according to Sports Illustrated), Natalija and Ognjena were there to cheer him on, with Ognjena wearing a jacket with Nikola’s name and number on the back.
Nikola was awarded NBA Finals MVP in June 2023, after the Denver Nuggets won their first NBA championship. Soon after his Game 5 victory, Altitude TV shared a video of Natalija cheering on her husband from the stands on Twitter. In the video, the proud wife screamed in delight while holding her daughter and wearing a Nuggets jersey. “The Joki wife’s celebration is everything!” the outlet captioned the video.
Having the support of his wife and children has been essential to Nikola while he competes in the NBA.
“I think all of us who have a wife and children should be happy with the people we have beside us,” he told Arena TV in Serbia in January. “When you have a normal life, it lifts you up and only helps you.”
So, who is the wife of Nikola Jokic? Here’s everything you need to know about Natalija Jokic and her relationship with NBA player Nikola Jokic.
She and Nikola are both from Sombor, Serbia.
Natalija and Nikola are both from Sombor, Serbia, a tiny town of around 47,000 people in the country’s northwest. Despite the fact that the couple has been in Denver since 2015, Nikola frequently speaks fondly of their homeland.
“It’s a very small town in northwest Serbia.” “We have really beautiful nature,” Nikola told SLAM magazine. “But it’s just that I like the people there.” It feels like family.”
When Nikola and Natalija first relocated to Denver for his NBA career, they brought one small piece of home with them. According to Bleacher Report, they hung a little black-and-white portrait of Kralja Peter, Sombor’s main street where they would spend summer nights and enjoy ice cream.
According to the Denver Post, the pair frequently return to Sombor during the NBA off-season. Nikola earned his second consecutive MVP award from a horse stable in Sombor in May 2022, with several of his Nuggets’ coaches there, thanks to a surprise visit that Natalija helped arrange. Nikola has also claimed that whenever he retires from the NBA, he and his family would return to Sombor permanently.
“I’m going back there after my career is over,” Nikola told Bleacher Report. “It’s super slow — there’s not a lot going on — but you have everything.” You have a canal, nature; you may find serenity outside of the city. I just want to be somewhere where I can drive a car without using navigation. Isn’t there no place like home? Something along those lines.”
They were high school sweethearts.
Natalija and Nikola had been together since they were teenagers, with Natalija posting a flashback photo of the couple on her Instagram in October 2012, when they were both 17 years old. Natalija posts photos of them on social media on a daily basis, commemorating their travels and key life events such as their wedding and the birth of their baby.
Natalija frequently expresses her love and appreciation for her spouse on Instagram. Natalija tweeted a photo of herself and Nikola in February 2019, the first season Nikola was named to the NBA All-Star team, with the message, “All Star of my heart.”
Despite the fact that Nikola’s basketball career has taken off, the couple has remained grounded. When Nikola was named Western Conference Player of the Month in February 2021, he told reporters that he celebrated “with my wife at home.”
“I mean, that’s exactly what I did,” he continued.