“We Just Let Him Live Like Normal”: Watching Nikola Jokic’s NBA Title in Sombor, Serbia

Within the metropolis of Sombor, in northwest Serbia, ten lanky youngsters change off enjoying video games of three on 3 on a ramshackle basketball court docket subsequent to an elementary college. Within the distance, a huge mural—painted in several shades of blue, lemon yellow, and white, and within the form of a person dribbling a basketball—looms massive as the teenagers shuffle, shoot, and rating amongst themselves. The court docket is in sketchy situation: one among two rims is lacking, so video games are halfcourt. But it surely’s sacred nonetheless—as a result of it is the place that huge man on the wall first realized the tips that carried him far-off, to an American metropolis a mile above sea degree, and on a basketball journey that nobody from this city may have ever imagined.

That man is Nikola Jokic, and he’s the golden boy of Sombor. It’s an untraditional place for a NBA champion to be from, however in fact Jokic has by no means been like different skilled basketball gamers, by way of his bodily attributes, his type of play, and even his relationship to the sport. He’s ever-calm, seemingly lacks an ego, and isn’t fascinated about any type of NBA fame or fanfare.

And once I go to, it’s about twelve hours earlier than Jokic and his Nuggets tip off their series-clinching Game 5 win against the Heat. I took a bus from Belgrade, Serbia’s capital, previous miles of farmland, suffering from rusty Yugoslav-era automobiles, tractors, greenhouses, and sheds to come back to Sombor, for the most important sport of the pleasure of Sombor’s life.

I head by means of the gates towards the children enjoying ball, and after an introduction and a little bit of pleasant trash speak—they’re excited to listen to that I’m from close to Miami—I take part. Promptly, a child named Nikola knocks down a jumper, seems me within the eye, and says “That’s why we’ve got the identical title!” He and his buddies are 15 and 16, and have grown up watching Jokic since he entered the league half their lifetimes’ in the past.

Probably the most talkative is six-foot, baby-faced Ilija. What’s it like, I ask, to see the world’s greatest basketball participant strolling round his metropolis? “We don’t ask him for footage. We simply let him reside like regular,” Ilija says. A lady on the tourism workplace had instructed me one thing related earlier within the day: Sombor is pleased with Jokic, however when he’s again on the town, they let him be.

Earlier that morning, out on a run, I’d regarded for indicators of Jokic across the city. Whereas I hadn’t anticipated to see a statue (not but, anyway), I’d imagined Nuggets flags in home windows, possibly, or well-wishing banners within the sq., or a store promoting Jokic-related merch. However after half-hour of operating—by the Metropolis Corridor, alongside the primary road, previous betting outlets, and an unofficial Nike retailer—I hadn’t seen a single signal. Even the native Cafe Joker Card has no connection to Jokic, a waitress knowledgeable me with a smile that prompt she’d gotten that very same query earlier than. I noticed children sporting Batman and Spider-Man t-shirts, however not one of the Joker. And on a gameday, with an NBA championship on the road, I nonetheless hadn’t laid eyes on a Jokic jersey. I hadn’t even seen one on the market.