From Denver to Dubai, Nikola Jokic has superstar influence — whether he wants it or not

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Nikola Jokic was running late. He famously detests calling attention to himself, but there was no time to wait for a convenient moment. By the time he and two teammates made it through Dubai traffic, it was already the second quarter. So the 6-foot-11 center sauntered out to the sideline during live play, shaking a few hands and taking a court-side seat to the left of Nuggets owner Stan Kroenke as the crowd stirred.

A few seconds later, while two children eagerly approached Jokic, his former team fell behind 28-18, its largest deficit.

Goran Cakic and Misko Raznatovic had feared this. The possibility that after the event had come together so smoothly, the game itself might not be entertaining enough for its guest of honor. KK Mega Basket was a healthy underdog against the newly founded Dubai BC.

“To be honest, when I spoke with Misko, we said, ‘OK, everyone is here. Everything is nice. Now it would be bad to lose by 20 points or more,’” said Cakic, the general manager of the Serbian team colloquially known as Mega. “Let’s keep it at 10 points. Five, 10, 15, to make at least some part of the game interesting.”

Halfway around the globe from Denver and a five-hour flight from Mega’s home in Belgrade, the Serbian capital, was an unlikely scene. It was coordinated by Cakic and Raznatovic, who represents Jokic and whose company, BeoBasket, purchased and repurposed Mega in 2004 to become a development-based club. Cakic was in charge of assembling the Adriatic League schedule this season. When the NBA announced last spring that Denver would play two preseason games in Abu Dhabi, Raznatovic asked about the possibility of aligning schedules.

Soon the wheels were in motion for Dubai, 90 minutes away from Abu Dhabi, to host Mega on Jokic’s off day. In the days leading up to the game, Cakic was unsure whether Jokic would make an appearance. But not only did he show up; so, too, did a chunk of the Nuggets organization: ownership, front-office staff, coaches and teammates spending their free time at an Adriatic League game because it was of sentimental value to Jokic.

This is the power of the Joker, at the peak of his historic career after winning his third MVP. He is by all accounts a low-maintenance superstar. But whether he wants it this way or not, his opinions, his advice and even his nostalgia are valued by everyone in his orbit — from Serbia this summer to Mega this fall, and back in Denver as a new NBA season tips off on Thursday.

Before he was the man who led the Nuggets to their first championship, he was the boy who put Mega on the map. This was his first opportunity to see his former team in years.

“It’s almost like a window to his world and his life,” Nuggets assistant coach Charles Klask marveled.

“Scouts, they travel to Europe and watch,” Raznatovic said. “But the owners? Kroenke, they see Mega for the first time, and they see how it looked when Nikola was there. Because it’s the same. … It reminds me of the time that he was there.”

“Useful or not useful”

If Jokic was going to interject during practice, he was going to be polite about it. Bordering on timid.

His avoidance of an active leadership role on the Serbian national team this summer revealed a defining contradiction in his life these days: one between the sway his voice has and his own perception of how strong that sway is. The Paris Olympics were a new crowning testament to his impact, prompting Team USA coach Steve Kerr to declare the Americans’ narrow semifinal win “one of the greatest basketball games I’ve ever been a part of. They (Serbia) were perfect. They played a perfect game.”

But during Serbia’s bronze-medal run, Jokic spoke up almost entirely for pragmatic reasons during practice, rarely straying into the motivational or psychological. He wasn’t the pep talk guy. He didn’t do interviews.

“I really believe he thinks about it, what he is going to say, in front of a group of people especially,” Team Serbia and Atlanta Hawks guard Bogdan Bogdanovic told The Denver Post. “And if he finds it useful or not useful.”

But even the ideas he found useful enough to articulate, he delivered through a filter.

“He doesn’t want to sound like he’s changing something,” Bogdanovic said of his behind-the-scenes experience with Jokic. “Usually he’s quiet, and he just works hard. But sometimes when practice is technical a little bit, then he likes to give advice, (say) what he thinks. Like he just says, basically, ‘This is what we’re gonna do. If you guys like it, let me know. If you don’t, it’s OK. We can do it another way.’ … Both sides of the floor. Like, defensively, ‘I’m gonna do it like this. Do you guys like it? Or do you want me to do it another way? Just show me.’”

And did the rest of the team ever reject one of his opinions?

“Of course not.”

“It was like stimulants”

The day before the game in Dubai, Kosta Kondic saw an Instagram video of Nuggets forward Vlatko Cancar saying he planned to attend with Jokic. After there was no sign of them before the game, the thought slipped from Kondic’s mind.

Until he glanced to his right and saw Serbia’s brightest basketball star standing a few feet from him.

“Everybody, when they saw him going into the arena, it was like stimulants to play better,” Kondic, Mega’s starting point guard, said afterward.

The ties between Mega and Denver are surprisingly deep. Cancar spent two seasons with the club after Jokic graduated to the NBA. Raznatovic represents Cancar and Dario Saric, in addition to Jokic. Former coach Dejan Milojevic remained a close friend to Jokic while on Golden State’s staff until his sudden death in January. The current head coach, Marko Barac, was on the Nuggets’ Summer League staff in 2023.

“We heard about it two days ago,” Klask, the Nuggets assistant, said. “They were saying it was Dubai’s home opener, they were playing Mega, and I was like, ‘No way.’ This was like the one night that me and my wife could do something. So I called Marko, Marko got me tickets, and now we’re here.”

“We all came to support him,” Nuggets assistant coach Ognjen “Ogi” Stojakovic said.

Through its unorthodox approach — the oldest players on the current roster are 23 — Mega has established a reputation as a career springboard for European prospects. More than a dozen have been drafted to the NBA, but Jokic is the club’s biggest success story.

“He used to play for the team I’m on right now,” said Bogoljub Markovic, a 2025 draft prospect. “That carries something. I watch him as much as I can back in Serbia.”

Marketing the club is a priority for Cakic and especially for Raznatovic. Scheduling a game around Jokic and the Nuggets was, in part, a smart promotional tactic. They built a spectacle around it, even bringing the team mascot, Pinki the Panther, to Dubai. “For the first time, both teams had mascots,” Raznatovic declared. “Never happened before.”

Pinki always wears a jersey. The number has changed several times over the years, from an area code of the town where Mega used to play to a 98 in honor of the club’s birth year. Recently, Pinki started wearing Jokic’s No. 15.

“Fifteen is going to be now until the end,” Cakic said.

“All right, if Jok says it”

Saric first envisioned a future in Denver on Feb. 25, when he was wearing a Warriors uniform. Golden State hosted the Nuggets that day. Jokic approached Saric on the court to say hello. They’ve known each other for years, dating back to the 2013 FIBA U19 World Championship tournament.

Jokic informed Saric that Denver had been interested in trading for him around the NBA trade deadline, which had passed 17 days earlier. Saric was intrigued. He would be a free agent in the offseason. Teaming up with Jokic appealed to him from a basketball and a social standpoint.

“Denver’s offer was right there right out of the gate (in free agency),” Saric told The Post. “And I kind of took a couple days to see, ‘Is anything else gonna come?’ But I knew right away Denver was probably my best option. Championship team. Really easy to adjust with Nikola and Cancar because of language and everything. And I love the style how they play.”

After Saric agreed to a two-year contract, Jokic called to congratulate him and answer Saric’s questions. Among the topics they discussed was pick-and-roll defense. Jokic emphasized that Denver was going to want Saric at the level of the screen, similar to what Jokic does with the starting unit.

“I really like that,” Saric said. “I mean, drop (coverage) is good, but sometimes guards have speed, and sometimes they just come off the screen and they have a straight line going at you. Obviously, I’m not so athletic (that) I’m going to block him. So I like to be more aggressive, stop him with the solid help behind.”

Jokic’s awareness of front-office machinations is fairly standard for a player of his pedigree. The Nuggets consulted him about their interest in Russell Westbrook as well, sources told The Post, wanting his opinion on the veteran point guard. Jokic approved.

“Nikola’s done a really good job of letting us do our job,” general manager Calvin Booth said, then acknowledging, “I think he and Russ do have a relationship, and I think (Jokic) has a respect for his game.”

Jokic’s influence resonates with the Nuggets at an individual level, too, not just an institutional one. The MVP known for his superb court vision is always watching closely, even outside of basketball. When Peyton Watson was a rookie, Jokic noticed him frequently showing up to Ball Arena in expensive new clothes and jewelry.

On a supermax contract like Jokic’s? Not a big deal. On a rookie salary? Jokic wanted to look out for Watson, whom he had taken a liking to. So he contacted a marketing manager at their shared agency. The message was eventually relayed to Watson that Jokic was concerned the 20-year-old was spending too hastily.

“Peyton is still a kid, but he’s really lovable,” Brantley Watson, his uncle, said last year. “And he listened to what Nikola said. He’s like, ‘All right, if Jok says it.’ Because you know, he doesn’t want to listen to us. We’re like, ‘Peyton, stop spending money.’ He’s like, ‘I don’t care what you say.’ But Jok, though … Peyton’s like, ‘All right, I’ll do it.’”

“I had goosebumps”

The Jokic stimulant was powerful back in Dubai. Mega clawed back and took the lead with one minute remaining on a wing 3-pointer from Kondic, who turned and marched down the court screaming, right in front of Jokic, Raznatovic and the Kroenkes.

“I had goosebumps,” Kondic said. “We were fired up. It’s an important win for us because nobody expected this to happen. We don’t have any pressure on us because people don’t expect that, but when it happens it’s an unbelievable feeling.”

Mega was fouled on another 3-point attempt with two seconds remaining, setting up free throws to clinch the upset. Jokic visited the triumphant locker room afterward. He flexed his muscles with all the players for a team photo. He even spoke to them in Serbian briefly, lamenting the passing of time. “It’s hard to explain,” Cakic said of the moment. “It’s just a game, but this was emotionally one full circle.”

It was the same side of Jokic that worried for a young teammate in Denver. A side of Jokic that understands his voice does matter.

“He wanted to send them the message of, ‘Guys, this is maybe the best, most beautiful period of your career.’ That was the message,” Raznatovic said. “Enjoy and love it. Because they are the same age. They are friends. And then the next step is completely different. … Like all of us parents, we say to our kids: ‘Enjoy the time when you’re in school. When you finish school, everything is not so beautiful like before.’”

Sitting next to Jokic, a nostalgic Raznatovic found himself transported back in time. “A couple of times, I was really upset with the referees,” he said. “And then it crossed my mind, one time when Mega played a cup final.” It was against the popular Belgrade team Red Star. Jokic was a teenager. A burgeoning Adriatic League MVP.

“It was maybe two minutes before the end of the game. Nikola was fighting for position,” Raznatovic recalls. Jokic had a mismatch down low, against a small forward who had no choice but to grab and tug. Jokic gave him a nudge back to get rid of him. He got called for an offensive foul. “Red Star won the cup,” Raznatovic remembers. “Without that call, they would not have won this cup.”

Jokic has a distinct, impulsive mannerism when he disagrees with a call. His eyes widen. He leans back and contorts his massive stature into something more compact. His head shrinks into his neck, his arms into his sides, while his palms stare up at the jumbotron, begging the official to look up at the replay. It’s a shrug of hyperbolic bewilderment.

Raznatovic doesn’t remember him doing that after the memorable offensive foul call. “He was very quiet at the time,” the agent says. “Now when you are the best in the world — of course, he would complain.”

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