After Game 1 of the NBA Finals, Nikola Jokic and his wife Natalija—who had been close friends since high school—became even more romantically attached. They both started dating in 2013 and are 28 years old. They kept up a long-distance romance even though they attended different colleges—Natalija played volleyball at Seminole State College in Oklahoma.

 After being selected in the 2015 NBA Draft, Nikola went on to sign with the Denver Nuggets, and Natalija finally made the move to Denver to complete her psychology degree. The pandemic forced them to change their plans for their wedding, and in October 2020, they were married in a secret ceremony. Ognjena Jokic, their daughter, was born in September 2022. Natalija posts images of their daughter on social media regularly. Their daughter encouraged Nikola to win the championship by pointing to Natalija’s ring finger in a widely shared NBA playoffs video, and he returned the gesture. Starting on Thursday in Denver, Natalija will be supporting her husband and the Denver Nuggets as they take on the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals.