Denver Nuggets centre Nikola Jokic has been named to the Serbian national team’s preliminary 16-man roster for the 2016 Paris Olympics, the country’s basketball organisation announced Monday, putting an end to speculation regarding the superstar’s participation in the competition.

Jokic, who became the ninth NBA player in history to win league MVP three times in May, has not officially stated if he intends to compete in the Olympics with his national team. When questioned recently, after the Nuggets’ season ended in the second round of the playoffs, he remained noncommittal.

“I do not know, my friend. Jokic said, “We’ll see.” “I need to think about it.”

The 29-year-old most recently represented Serbia in the 2022 EuroBasket event. He declined to compete in the 2023 FIBA World Cup, citing the length of the NBA season after leading Denver to its first championship. Teams that advance to the NBA Finals typically have playoffs that last until mid-June.

This year, however, Jokic’s summer began earlier than expected, with the Nuggets losing a 20-point lead to the Minnesota Timberwolves in a winner-take-all Game 7 that would have advanced them to the Western Conference Finals if they had won. Jokic was spotted in early June on a river-rafting vacation with pals in Serbia, where he prefers to spend his offseason.

Svetislav Pesic, the national team coach, chose a 16-man preliminary roster that included numerous NBA players, including Bogdan Bogdanovic (Atlanta Hawks), Nikola Jovic (Miami Heat), Vasilije Micic (Charlotte Hornets), and Aleksej Pokusevski.Ognjen Stojakovic, the Nuggets’ assistant coach, has also confirmed that he will return to the national team’s coaching staff for the Olympics. Stojakovic made his debut on Pesic’s staff in the World Cup last summer, winning a FIBA silver medal despite losing to Germany in the final.

Serbia has already qualified for the 12-team Olympic event in Lille and Paris, France, as a result of its silver medal performance. Serbia’s first group stage game will be on July 28 against a US side that includes Joel Embiid, LeBron James, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, and other NBA players. South Sudan will also compete in the Serbian group. The fourth squad has yet to be decided, with qualifying tournaments continuing this summer in preparation for the Paris Games.

Jamal Murray, the Nuggets’ point guard, has verbally committed to the Canadian national team, which will compete in a group with Australia and two other countries. In May, Nuggets general manager Calvin Booth stated that power forward Vlatko Cancar is anticipated to return from a torn ACL to help Slovenia in its Olympic qualifying competition.