Serious Heart Break: Nikola Jokić Father In A Horrible Accident
Serious Heart Break: Nikola Jokić Father In A Horrible Accident
2023 NBA champion Nikola Jokić thanks his parents, Branislav and Nikolina, for their support and belief in him
Three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokić’s parents, Branislav and Nikolina, raised their son to be humble.
The Denver Nuggets center may be as well known for his humility off the basketball court as he is for his dominance on it. He tends to avoid the spotlight and goes back to his hometown of Sombor, Serbia to ride horses.
Nikola’s interests and outlook on life were influenced by his parents, Branislav and Nikolina, while growing up in Sombor. After welcoming Nikola’s older brothers, Strahinja and Nemanja, Branislav and Nikolina had Nikola on Feb. 19, 1995.
Branislav was an agricultural engineer and owned a horse stable in Sombor, where he and Nikolina raised three boys in a small, two-bedroom apartment with their grandmother. During the 2023 NBA Finals — before leading the Nuggets to an NBA championship over the Miami Heat — Nikola spoke to reporters about how his family has supported his journey.
“My mom and dad was always supporting [me], my dad especially. He always thought that I could be something more,” he said at a press conference. “When I go to the other city, then my older brother took that role and he lived with me. Then we came to the United States, and then my brother, Nemanja, who lived here before … we get together, and it’s just a nice journey.”
While speaking with his Nuggets teammate Michael Porter Jr. on his podcast Curious Mike in 2023, Nikola revealed he hopes to live a normal life with his family upon retirement.
“How I want to see myself is to be around the family, spending days probably [with] my kid … and spend the rest of the day with the horses,” Nikola said.
From their lives in Sombor to supporting Nikola’s NBA career, here’s everything to know about Nikola Jokić’s parents, Branislav and Nikolina Jokić.
Branislav and Nikolina raised Nikola and his brothers in a two-bedroom apartment in Serbia
Nikola comes from humble beginnings. He was raised by Branislav and Nikolina in a two-bedroom apartment in Sombor — a small town in northern Serbia — with his two brothers and grandmother.
In 2016, Nikola wrote an essay for The Player’s Tribune about his life growing up in Serbia.
“Our apartment was really small. We had two rooms: kitchen, bathroom. It was my mom, dad, me, my two brothers and my grandma,” Nikola said. “It was always a full house. My brothers — cousins really, but in Serbia we call them brothers — also came over. It was always a full house of people, and we always mess around. We were crazy kids. We were making a lot of noise.”
Nikolina noticed Nikola’s interest in basketball when he was a baby
Nikola may be the most well-known basketball player in his family, but Nikolina and Branislav’s first two sons, Strahinja and Nemanja, also played basketball. Nikolina even noticed Nikola’s attentiveness and interest in his brothers playing basketball when he was just a baby.
“Yeah, that’s how I came to love basketball. My mom said even before I could remember, when I still had a pacifier, I would just sit and watch [my brothers] play [basketball],” Nikola told Denver Stiffs in 2016. “They were kids too, but I just loved how they moved. I would just sit there for hours and watch them.”
