Though the couple married in October 2020, Natalija has been by Nikola’s side since they were teenagers. When Nikola joined the Nuggets in 2015, she relocated to Denver with him and has been cheering on the two-time NBA MVP from the sidelines ever since.

Natalija is now commonly seen at Nikola’s games, along with their daughter Ognjena. Natalija posted a photo on Instagram in March 2023 of Ognjena holding Nikola’s game ball from his 100th triple-double, which only five other players in NBA history had accomplished, according to the Associated Press.

Natalija and Ognjena were there to cheer Nikola on when he broke another NBA record in 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), with Ognjena seen on Instagram stories wearing a jacket with Nikola’s name and number on the back.

Nikola Jokic’s wife celebrates the Denver Nuggets’ victory.

Altitude TV/Twitter

Nikola was awarded NBA Finals MVP in June 2023, as the Denver Nuggets won their first NBA championship. Soon after his Game 5 win, Altitude TV tweeted a video of Natalija cheering on her husband from the stands. In the video, the delighted wife wears a Nuggets jersey while holding her daughter and screams with joy. “The celebration from Jokić’s wife is everything!” the site captioned the video.

Nikola has found the support of his wife and children crucial while he competes in the NBA.

“I believe that all of us who have a wife and children should be content with the people we have around us,” he told Serbia’s Arena TV in January. “When you have a normal life, it lifts you up and only helps you.”

So, who is Nikola Jokic’s wife? Here’s everything you should know about Natalija Jokic and her connection with the NBA player.

She and Nikola are both from Sombor, Serbia.

Nikola Jokic & Natalija Jokic

Natalija Jokić Instagram

Natalija and Nikola are both from Sombor, Serbia, a small city with a population of around 47,000 in the country’s northwest. Despite the fact that the pair has lived in Denver since 2015, Nikola frequently speaks warmly of their native country.

“It’s a little town in the northwest of Serbia. “We have really nice nature,” Nikola told SLAM magazine. “But I really enjoy the folks there. “It’s like family.”

When Nikola and Natalija first arrived to Denver for his NBA career, they carried one small piece of home into their pre-furnished flat. According to Bleacher Report, they hung a little black-and-white photograph of Kralja Peter, Sombor’s main street where they used to spend summer nights and eat ice cream.

According to the Denver Post, the pair frequently return to Sombor during the NBA offseason. After winning his second straight MVP award in May 2022, Nikola accepted it from a horse stable in Sombor, with some of his Nuggets coaches there, owing to a surprise visit arranged by Natalija. Nikola has also claimed that once he is done playing in the NBA, he and his family would return to Sombor permanently.

“After my career ends, I’m going back there,” Nikola told Bleacher Report. “It’s pretty slow—not much going on—but you have everything. You have a canal, nature, and you may find peace of mind outside the city. I just want to be somewhere where I know how to drive without a GPS. How about “no place like home”? “Something like that.”

Nikola and Natalija Jokic are high school sweethearts.

Natalija Jokić Instagram

Natalija and Nikola have been together since they were teenagers, and Natalija shared a flashback snapshot of the couple from October 2012 on Instagram, when they were both only 17 years old. Natalija routinely posts photos of them on social media, documenting their vacations and key life events such as their wedding and the birth of their baby.

Natalija frequently expresses her passion and admiration for her spouse on Instagram as well. In February 2019, the first season Nikola was named to the NBA All-Star squad, Natalija shared a selfie of herself and Nikola with the message, “All Star of my heart.”

Despite Nikola’s meteoric rise in basketball, the couple has maintained a grounded demeanour. In February 2021, when Nikola earned Western Conference Player of the Month, he told reporters that he celebrated “with my wife at home.”

“That’s what I did,” he explained.