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

Jokic, 28, completed a historic NBA Finals run on Monday night, prompting Hall of Famer Isaiah Thomas to call him one of the game’s most “legendary” players after winning back-to-back NBA MVP awards in recent years and leading his team to the franchise’s first championship this season.

But, whether it was a confident swagger or a true look into what friends call his “lowkey” demeanor, Jokic continued telling reporters after Monday night’s 94-89 championship triumph over the Miami Heat that he wanted to travel home to his stable in his homeland of Sombor, Serbia, to visit his horses.

“On Sundays, I have my horse racing,” Jokic said afterward. “I’m not sure how I’ll get there [on time] for Thursday’s procession. Friday, maybe? I am going to ask [Nuggets owner Josh Kroenke] for a plane.”

When ESPN’s Lisa Saulters asked him to describe what it’s like to finally hold the NBA’s Larry O’Brien trophy, Jokic said virtually without emotion: “It’s good.” It’s good. The job is over, and we can now go home.

The Denver Nuggets defeated the Miami Heat 94-89 in the 2023 NBA Finals. MVP Nikola Jokic (15) celebrates with his daughter, Ognjena, at Ball Arena on June 12. 

Nikola Jokic #15 of the Denver Nuggets poses with his family after winning Game Five of the 2023 NBA Finals on June 12, 2023, at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado.

Nikola Jokic with his family. JESSE D. GARRABRANT/NBAE via Getty

According to The Athletic, Jokic’s stable contains “more than half a dozen” horses. Jokic, who stands 6-foot-11 and weighs 284 pounds, is still passionate about racehorses and has always enjoyed being around them.

“I had two older brothers who played basketball,” he told SLAM Magazine back in 2016. “I fell in love with basketball because to them. We’d always play together. However, at some point in my life, I became interested in horse racing. I simply fell in love with horses, their beauty, and elegance. It was like a hobby to me. I didn’t become serious about it. And I wasn’t taking basketball seriously, either. I was in between the two.”

His father, Branislav, told The Associated Press following Monday night’s championship win that his son had once wanted to be a horseman rather than a basketball player.

“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. “He would say, ‘Dad, I want to become a horseman.'” And I used to urge him, “Son, become a basketball player first, and then a great horseman later.”

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This photo, taken on June 25, 2019, shows Branislav Jokic, the father of Nikola Jokic, the 24-year-old Serbian basketball star who plays for the NBA’s Denver Nuggets.

Nikola Jokic (15) of the Denver Nuggets celebrates his NBA championship with his brother Strahinja after defeating the Miami Heat 94-89 at Ball Arena on June 12, 2023.

During the NBA season, Jokic travels to stables across the United States while the Nuggets play in other locations.

Jokic has even formed a friendship with Hall of Fame New Jersey harness racer Tim Tetrick, who recently told The New York Daily News that the five-time NBA All-Star pays him visits and accompanies 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.

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

“I’m just a regular guy. “Lowkey,” Tetrick told the Daily News. “You wouldn’t know he makes $40 million a year to play basketball. He arrives at the barn in his sweatpants. Then he gets his training suit and jumps in, and he just enjoys hanging out.”

Jokic will have to make room in his locker, where a horse ribbon is proudly displayed in front of his MVP Awards after winning the NBA championship and the Finals MVP Award, according to reports. He’ll also have to make an extra place in his stable at home since he told ESPN’s Malika Andrews that he planned to acquire another horse once the Nuggets won the championship.