Photo of 5 Year Old Nikola Jokic With Nuggets Sweatshirt in Serbia Emerges

• A picture of a 5-year-old Nikola Jokic wearing a Denver Nuggets sweatshirt has emerged after they won the NBA title
• Jokic was terrific throughout the 2023 playoffs and capped it off by winning the Finals MVP
• The Nuggets beat the Miami Heat in the finals

Nikola Jokic conquered the NBA after leading the Denver Nuggets to their first-ever NBA title. He was superb in the finals as they beat a resilient Miami Heat team 4-1 in the best-of-seven series.

Shortly after he was awarded the 2023 NBA Finals MVP, a photo of a young Jokic wearing a Nuggets sweatshirt emerged.

The Serbian was selected 41st overall in the 2014 NBA Draft and was relatively unknown. Interestingly, he was drafted during a Taco Bell commercial. He was reportedly sleeping when his family woke him up to inform him he had been drafted.

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Knowing this puts everything in perspective. He is now a two-time NBA MVP, Finals MVP, and NBA champion. He is arguably the greatest draft pick in NBA history, per CBS Sports.

Jokic photo in Serbia emerges

His agent recently posted a photo of a 5-year-old Jokic wearing a Nuggets sweatshirt in his hometown of Sombor, Serbia, in 2000. According to his agent, Miško Ražnatović, the chances of someone in Serbia wearing Nuggets merchandise in the early 2000s were very low.

Moreover, Los Angeles Lakers and Chicago Bulls were more popular at that time all over the world.

"But chances of that same kid growing up to play basketball and achieve his career high, win two MVP titles and sign a historic agreement with the same club whose sweatshirt he wore at age five, were zero," Ražnatović said. "It is true that winners create their own fate, make the impossible possible and write the pages of history through exceptional dedication, hard work, sacrifice, confidence, and willingness to do more than others," he said, via SI.

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After the NBA title win, he is probably the best basketball player in the world. He achieved all this as the 41st pick from a small town in Eastern Europe.

In June 2022, Jokic signed a five-year, $264 supermax extension with the Nuggets. The deal is the richest in NBA history, and the fifth season (2027-28) will be a player option at $60 million, per the Athletic.

NBA title and Jokic's legacy

Sports Brief earlier analyzed what winning an NBA championship means to Jokic's legacy in the NBA.

The Serbian center joined an elite list of players with two MVP awards and at least one Finals MVP trophy. The list includes players like Michael Jordan, Stephen Curry, and LeBron James.

Jokic has achieved almost everything in the NBA and could add more to the list in the next few seasons if he keeps up this level of performance.