Nikola Jokic: “In the NBA, stats matter; in Europe, winning does”
For Jokic, there is a major difference between the NBA and Europe: on the other side of the ocean, results, pressure and pride come before personal statistics
Six months in Europe. For Nikola Jokic, that would be enough for any NBA player to understand just how much the experience of playing a game can change on the other side of the ocean. Not so much because of the level of basketball, but because of everything surrounding it: pressure, rivalries, fans and, above all, one very simple idea: winning comes before everything else.
At the Denver Nuggets’ Media Day, Jokic once again discussed the differences between NBA basketball and European basketball, starting with his experience with Serbia.
In Europe and with the national team, the most important thing is winning the game. I know it may sound stupid to say, but in the NBA you sometimes see players who need to get their shots, score their points or reach certain statistics. With the national team and in Europe, on the other hand, winning is what matters most
Nikola Jokic
And that is exactly why the three-time MVP would like to see his NBA peers experience that kind of environment at least once.
I’d like every NBA player to go play six months in Europe, even just to understand how much pressure there is
Nikola Jokic
Jokic knows exactly what he is talking about. Before arriving in Denver in 2015, he developed as a player at Mega Basket and over the years has continued to experience European basketball with the Serbian national team, also winning Olympic silver at Rio 2016 and bronze at Paris 2024.
To explain the concept more clearly, the Joker also mentioned some of the most intense environments in European basketball.
You play Olympiacos in Greece on Wednesday and then maybe at home against Red Star or Partizan. If you lose three games in a row, it becomes serious over there. People really live it, there’s so much pride
Nikola Jokic
So this is not about deciding which kind of basketball is better. Jokic’s point is something else: spending a few months in an environment where every loss carries weight and the result comes before individual statistics. An experience that, in his view, could change the way many NBA players see the game.