Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets will celebrate the city’s first NBA championship with a parade downtown on Thursday, but one question will nag the NBA Finals MVP all day: Will he get home in time to see his horses race this weekend?

On Monday night, Jokic, 28, capped off a historic NBA Finals run that has Hall of Famer Isaiah Thomas saying he’s now in the conversation for being one of the game’s most “legendary” players — winning back-to-back NBA MVP awards in recent years before leading his team to the franchise’s first championship this season.

But, whether it was a cocky swagger or a true reflection of his “lowkey” attitude, Jokic continued telling reporters after Monday night’s 94-89 championship win over the Miami Heat that he wanted to return home to his stable in Sombor, Serbia, to see his horses.

“On Sundays, I have my horse racing,” Jokic stated following the game. “I’m not sure how I’m going to make it [in time] for the parade on Thursday.” Perhaps on Friday? I’m going to request a plane from [Nuggets owner Josh Kroenke].”

When asked by ESPN’s Lisa Saulters what it’s like to finally hoist the NBA’s Larry O’Brien trophy, Jokic said nearly without emotion: “It’s good.” It’s fine. “The job is finished, and we can now go home.”

According to The Athletic, Jokic has a stable full of “more than a half-dozen” horses waiting for him at home. Jokic, who is too big to ride horses at 6-foot-11 and 284 pounds, but yet enthusiastic enough to train them and has had a lifetime fascination with them.

“I had two older brothers who played basketball,” he told SLAM Magazine back in 2016. “It was because of them that I fell in love with basketball.” We were always playing together. But then, at some point in my life, I became interested in horse racing. I fell in love with horses because of their beauty and grace. It was almost like a hobby for me. I didn’t take it seriously. And I wasn’t even taking basketball seriously. I was caught between the two.”

His father, Branislav, told The Associated Press after the championship win on Monday night that his son had wanted to be a horseman instead of a basketball star.

“He started growing, both in height and in size, and he started to become aware that he could be a basketball player, but he had a great desire in those days,” said Branislav. “‘Dad, I want to be a horseman,’ he’d remark. ‘Son, become a basketball player first, and you’ll become a great horseman later,’ I used to tell him.

During the NBA season, Jokic finds methods to visit stables across the country while the Nuggets play in other locations.

Jokic has even formed a friendship with Hall of Fame New Jersey-based harness racer Tim Tetrick, who recently told The New York Daily News that the five-time NBA All-Star visits him and goes with him to local stables when the team plays on the East Coast, once making his Nuggets teammates wait three hours for him while he worked with horses with Tetrick.

According to the trainer, the NBA player texted Tetrick, 41, just before Game 3 of this year’s NBA Finals to check in on races. “I said, you’ve got a game in 30 minutes,” Tetrick explained.

“I’m just a down-to-earth guy.” “Not at all,” Tetrick told the Daily News. “You’d never guess he gets paid $40 million a year to play basketball.” He arrives in the barn sweating. Then he puts on his training gear and gets in, and he just hangs out.”

After winning both the NBA championship and the Finals MVP Award, Jokic will have to make room in his locker, where a horse ribbon is proudly displayed in front of his MVP Awards, according to reporters. And he’ll have to make extra place in his stable back home, since he told ESPN’s Malika Andrews that if the Nuggets won the championship, he’d buy another horse.