Nikola Jokic roasts teammate Peyton Watson in rare commercial appearance – but the bloopers are even funnier

Denver Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic mostly just wants to be in Serbia winning horse-racing championships.

Jokic famously didn’t want to stay in Denver for the Nuggets’ championship parade, which fell on a Thursday back in June, because of a horse race in Serbia the following Sunday. (He later changed his tune, calling the parade “the best day of my [expletive] life.”)

So perhaps it was a pony that convinced Jokic to make a rare television commercial appearance for hotels.com.

Jokic, a two-time NBA MVP and the 2023 NBA Finals MVP, appears in a pair of ads for the hotel booking site alongside teammate Peyton Watson. In one of them, the teammates and a pony stroll through a swanky hotel lobby Jokic says is “pet-friendly.”

Watson confuses the pony for a horse, much to the chagrin of the equine expert Jokic, who pump-fakes Watson with a piece of fruit grabbed from a fruit bowl and instead gives it to the pony.

In a second commercial, the Serbian superstar has a zinger in store for the young Nuggets reserve:

“Seats at the hotel pool are a lot like seats at the game,” Jokic tells Watson in the spot. “You’ve got the VIPs, the fairweather fans, and the bench.”

“Who sits on the bench?” Watson asks.

“Not me,” Jokic quips before taking a seat in a covered cabana, leaving Watson to sit on the pool ledge.

Watson, a second-year player for Denver, has logged 5.7 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 16 minutes per game this year. He has not started a game.

Jokic, meanwhile, continues to do absurd things on the basketball court. He’s averaging 26.4 points, 12.3 rebounds and 9.4 assists over 27 games, leading the Nuggets to the third-best record in the Western Conference at the time of this writing.

If you thought the commercials were funny, check out the bleep-laden bloopers from the shoot, shared by Nuggets reporter Katy Winge: