In NBA, not every love story is about the spotlight; some have their roots in a quaint Serbian town. Nikola and Natalija Jokić met in their teens and created a life together through commitment and overcoming distance.
As the couple take on the challenges of parenthood, their young daughter cheers for him from the sidelines, showing that Jokić’s success is as much about family as it is about basketball.
Long-Distance Relationship Before Reuniting in Denver
Nikola and Natalija grew up in the same city Sombor in Serbia and met in high school. In 2013, she moved to the U.S. to play volleyball for Seminole State College in Oklahoma, while Nikola went on playing basketball in Serbia. In 2015, Nikola joined the Denver Nuggets, and she followed him to Denver.
They got engaged in January 2020 and married on October 24, 2020 in Sombor. Natalija has a master’s degree from Metropolitan State University of Denver and would go to see Nikola’s NBA games.
On one episode of “Curious Mike,” Nikola was asked how he met his wife and knew that she was the one. He answered, “I know her since I was 14 or 15 and yeah she lived 5 minutes away from my house and we were friends for like a couple of years and then she actually was that summer.
“Before that we kind of started I’m going to say dating and she was playing volleyball in Oklahoma and we were kind of having long distance relationship so how I knew it”
In a January 2023 conversation with Arena TV in Serbia, Nikola stated, “I think all of us who have a wife and kids should be happy with the persons we have beside us. When you have a normal life, it lifts you up and only helps you.”
Following the Nuggets’ historic win of their first NBA championship in June 2023, Natalija shared her feelings of pride and thankfulness, saying, “Mnogo smo ponosni. Zahvalni smo Nikoli na tome, šta je sve uradio i učinio, presrećni smo stvarno. Malo sam izgubila glas,” which translates to, “We are very proud. We are grateful to Nikola for what he has done and accomplished, we are really overjoyed. I have almost lost my voice.”
Inside Jokic’s Life As A Father
In an interview, Nikola voiced his views on family, where he said, “Being a father, that means that you don’t play just for yourself or just the team. When you get older, you don’t want them to look at your videos or whatever and say that you’re bad, so hopefully I can talk a lot of trash there when my kid or my nephews grow up so I’m going to be a cool Grandpa.”
They are raising two children. Ognjena was born in September 2021 and their son Ignjat in November 2024. But they like to keep their personal lives under wraps for the most part, but they’ve shown up in public now and again, like celebrating the Nuggets’ NBA Championship win in June 2023.
