Kevin Spain
Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic came into the NBA with a relatively low profile. He was the 41st pick of the Nuggets in the 2014 NBA draft.
Usually when a player goes that late, he’s a project. Somebody a team takes a chance on, just in case he hits.
Hit he did. Jokic is a two-time NBA MVP, led the Nuggets to the 2023 NBA Finals and to the first title in franchise history. He has become one of the most important players in the NBA.
Now, everybody who knows the NBA knows Jokic. Jokic wishes that wasn’t true. Nikola Jokic wants his profile to be low again.
Being famous isn’t something that interests Nikola Jokic
On the latest Curious Mike Podcast, hosted by Jokic’s teammate Michael Porter, Jr., Jokic said that “Being famous, some people like it, some people don’t. When I finish my career, I really wish nobody knows me. I wish my kid or kids in the future … remember me as a dad. I think that’s gonna be my goal in life.”
Porter set up Jokic for that response by discussing how Jokic wants to be a normal guy, someone who never set out to be famous.
When Porter asked what the toughest part about being a global superstar, Jokic said “I really don’t like this life.”
Jokic said they are “just basketball players” and “good at what we are doing.” He lamented the attention the players receive, but admitted that attention is why they get paid.
Nikola Jokic wants no part of modern technology when he retires
One of the more interesting things Jokic said was how he wants to disconnect when he retires from playing.
“To not have a phone, that’s another big goal of mine,” he said. “Just to live in the moment, be a normal person. Go drink with your buddy or go have lunch or go play with your kids or go ride horses, and nobody’s going to make a big deal of that.”
Jokic said that after he retires, he wants to spend time with the family and travel with the kid or kids if they are a part of sports. Then spend the rest of his days with his horses.
He said he has horses in Sweden, Italy and France. He said it’s a secret goal of his to race horses.
But Jokic did admit that he had a greater sense of being a professional basketball player after the Nuggets won the title. He watched a video of the various celebrations, and it left an impression. He was taken aback by the reaction there was to what he did.
“We affect so many people,” he said. “Old, young, kids, parents … this was a big thing.”
