At this moment, Mr Nikola Jokic he is one of the most popular athletes on the planet. The Serb has won two NBA MVP awards, and this year he led the Denver Nuggets to the NBA Finals.
Nevertheless, the story of how the Serb reached the top level is of great interest. Even more, in fact, after what he said Misko Raznatovicthe player’s agent.
The Serb was a guest on Matt Barnes and Steven Jackson’s podcast, “All the Smoke Show,” and gave the unknown background of how he ended up as his client. Nikola Jokic.
What he said in detail:
“I was reading the newspaper and I saw that a player in the U18 of the Serbian national team, who was very low level, had 29 points and if I’m not mistaken 26 rebounds. I said, wow, nothing more. The following Sunday I was reading the paper again and I said let’s check this player out. I see 30 points and 37 rebounds. It’s not my job, it’s the scouting department’s job, but I thought I should look into it.
I called my scout and asked him about the player. She didn’t know him, he was silent. For me it was the surprise of the year because he is supposed to know all the children from 10 years and above. He told him look, it’s clear he’s a center, make a call and find out if he’s getting so many rebounds because he’s bigger and stronger or because he has potential. He took me back after 3 minutes and told me that he is not strong, but agile, talented, maybe a little overweight.
I’m generally a guy who believes in the system, predictions and analysis, so I don’t know why, but I wanted to sign this kid and I told him to go home, which is 50 kilometers outside Belgrade, find his family and talk together her. He went, discussed with his family. His family is a traditional Serbian family. They are very attentive to their children. She was very happy that an agency of such size was interested in their child, who by the way had never trained with the big team.
They entered the company, but they wanted to see me too. Two days later I went, we talked, we had very good chemistry, especially with his big brother Strahinias. He was very important to this decision. It helped him a lot to become who he is, especially at the beginning of his career which was very difficult.
Nikola joined our company at the age of 17 and a half. This is the first and last time in the company’s 27 years that we have signed a player without seeing him play.”
Source: Sport Fm
I am currently a news writer for News Bulletin247 where I mostly cover sports news. I have always been interested in writing and it is something I am very passionate about. In my spare time, I enjoy reading and spending time with my family and friends.
