The NBA Draft is typically a momentous day for aspiring basketball players. It’s a sign that the dream they have chased their entire life has finally come true. Many of the greatest players in league history speak highly of their draft experience. However, for Nikola Jokic, it was simply just another day.
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People tend to forget that Jokic was a part of the 2014 NBA Draft. That class included some high-level talent such as Joel Embiid, Julius Randle, Andrew Wiggins, and Aaron Gordon. Jokic may be arguably the best player in the world, but at that time, he wasn’t anywhere close to being among the top prospects.
Jokic wasn’t even a first-round pick. The Denver Nuggets selected him in the second round with the 41st pick. They believed in the Serbian big man enough to draft him, but they didn’t have hopes that he would become the future face of the franchise. The NBA didn’t even view Jokic as a player with much potential, considering they aired a Taco Bell commercial when the Nuggets selected him.
That would have shattered the confidence of many a athlete. But Doncic, he didn’t even watch the draft. He was busy doing something he found much more important.
“The Draft itself, the moment that I was drafted, my brother was living in New York, he called me on the phone, celebrating, and I was sleeping, man,” Jokic said in an interview with X & O’s Chat. “I’m like, who’s even thinking about that? A 17-year-old me, just thinking how I will wrestle with these guys.”
This type of attitude would’ve scared some team officials who would’ve been under the assumption that he doesn’t love basketball enough. Fast forward to today, and we know that is far from the truth.
Jokic’s love for basketball is certainly genuine. However, he has never allowed basketball to overly consume his life. It might make more sense knowing that Jokic wasn’t even an avid watcher of the NBA while growing up.
“I mean, I wasn’t watching actively, but I looked at highlights, best moments—there was that NBA Action show, thank God, we were all watching that,” Jokic added.
Jokic had passions in other areas rather than just basketball. It’s well known that he holds horse racing to an incredibly high pedestal. Overall, he’s just different than the conventional superstar. That’s what makes him so special as a player. Not everyone needs to have the same mentality as Kobe Bryant, but the competitive fire, that Jokic has in abundance.
