DENVER – Nikola Jokic, in many ways, is larger than life.
He stands a towering 6-foot-11. The NBA title and the records he shattered in the process have solidified him as the best player in the world in the eyes of many.
But on Wednesday night, he was quite literally towering over his home country of Serbia. Belgrade Tower, which stands 551 feet over the country’s capital city, was decked out in a Jokic display ahead of the Nuggets’ championship celebration.
Jokic told the massive crowd at Denver’s Civic Center Park on Thursday that the parade marked “the best day of his life.”After the Nuggets’ NBA Finals win, though, his desire to return home was clear.
Jokic cares for race horses in his home country.
According to The Associated Press, crowds of Serbs shouted and cheered in a decrepit sports hall in the small and otherwise sleepy northern Serbian city of Sombor, where fans watched the game on a large screen.
The loudest ovation came when the typically humble and stone-faced Jokic said in a post-game, on-court interview: “It’s time to go home.”
For the small Balkan state of just over 6 million people, June has been a month few will ever forget. A Serbian sweep gave Jokic his first NBA ring and tennis star Novak Djokovic a record-setting 23rd Grand Slam singles title when he won the French Open on Sunday.
Denver Nuggets