Episode 6: Who is Nikola Joki??

Imagine winning your franchise’s first NBA title and being named Finals MVP, on top of breaking a 56-year-old playoff triple-double record held by the great Wilt Chamberlain. What would you want to do first? Party? Travel the world? Bask in the love and adoration of your team’s fans? In the eyes of the newly crowned champ, all of that is wrong. He is a man who just wants to go home.

Welcome, lovely readers, to this week’s episode of I Don’t Know What The F@ck I’m Doing. If you’re anything like me, you’ve been at least loosely following the NBA Finals. I’m not a massive NBA fan and I didn’t have a dog in the fight. (If Twitter is to be believed that’s the fault of Zion and his womanizing ways, but that’s a whole different conversation.)

But I am a sports fan in general, so it’s almost obligatory to watch championship series. Now, I am not a basketball expert, but I would have been hard-pressed to not notice the 7-foot, 250lb Eastern European dominating the floor possession after possession, night after night. Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to introduce your 2023 Finals MVP, Nikola Joki?! (Wouldn’t it be cool if I actually had a statement or an interview? Maybe one day…).

Nikola was born in Sombor, Serbia, in 1995. This time was a period of great political unrest in the region, including events like the Kosovo Conflict and the NATO Bombing of Yugoslavia. Not at all the focus of this article, but this absolutely makes his rise to prominence that much more impressive. Although the Joki? family boasts roots in basketball, with Nikola’s older brothers, Nemanja and Strahinja, both playing professionally in Serbia, Nikola himself didn’t seriously commit to the sport until his late teens. Another factor contributing to his success is a late growth spurt, bringing him from around 6 feet tall to his current towering 7 feet. This might help explain his skills as a center with some guard-like abilities.

After progressing through the ranks of the Serbian team KK Mega Basket’s youth program, Joki? made his pro team debut in the 2012-2013 season. Competing in both the Adriatic and the Serbian leagues, Nikola racked up an exceptional three MVP awards (Serbian MVP 2014 & 2015, Adriatic MVP 2015). Despite his high-level performance overseas, the NBA stands in a league of its own, and there wasn't much fanfare for Nikola's arrival. In fact, as the 41st pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, Joki? got the privilege of being selected on the ticker during a Taco Bell commercial! (Yes, your reigning Finals MVP was sharing the stage with a cheesy beef burrito.)

All the underestimation turned around quickly, however, with Joki? earning Rookie First Team honors his first season. Nikola continued to simmer in the league before finally starting to hit his accolade stride in 2019, beginning a still unbroken string of All-Star Game appearances. Joki? really put the league on notice in 2021, blowing the lid off the pot and being named All-NBA First Team (best in the NBA at his position) as well as being the first Center since Shaq (’99-’00) to be named league MVP!

These types of accomplishments always come with financial compensation, and this time is no different. In 2018 (while becoming the first center in history to average a triple-double) Joki? signed a 5-year, $148 million contract, making him the highest paid Denver Nugget in history. A few short years later, in 2022, he inked a new 5-year deal worth $272 million, the single biggest contract in NBA history.?

The best thing about Nikola in my opinion? His attitude. Listening to Joki? speak about ball is akin to a CPA talking accounting. It’s just a job. Nikola’s first act after the final buzzer was to approach and pay his respects to each of his defeated opponents, and he arrived at his MVP interview as the only player to not bring his MVP trophy. “Humble” is not a humble enough word for this man. During the interview with ESPN’s Malika Andrews, he went as far as saying “basketball is not [the] main thing in my life, it’s something that I’m good at.” Work to live not live to work right? (Shoutout last week’s readers.) "Work to live" is a motto of mine, but there are always exceptions. You would think that playing a sport your entire adult life and being validated as the best in the world would be one of those exceptions – it’s okay to live for basketball at that point. Not to Nikola. When asked after the game if he was looking forward to Thursday’s championship parade through Denver, he comically exclaimed that he needs to get back to Serbia for his horse racing on Sunday. This just proves that under those 7 feet and 250 pounds of pure skill and athletic prowess, there’s a normal guy who wants to hang out with his friends and family and watch his horse run fast. Godspeed, Nikola. I hope you make it home by the Call to the Post!

That’s all I’ve got for now; I hope you enjoyed the episode. Let me know if you saw/heard/did anything that inspired you this past week! I’ve got two, one big picture and one day-to-day inspiration. Big inspiration is seeing the continued success of Nadeshot and 100 Thieves, he started out as a pro gamer and is now CEO of a business with multiple teams, and I think that’s pretty cool. Day-to-day inspiration is my buddy Ferg starting weekly pro golf tournament previews – now I want to try doing that for Formula One Grand Prix’s, as I really enjoyed the format. Let me know something that makes you want to create!

Much Love.