'Little Nikola': stories of young Jokic

Nikola Jokic's godfather lifts the lid on what the three-time NBA MVP was like as a youngster in Serbia.

Transcript

00:00 Nikola Jelke!

00:04 You always think of him as little Nikola, you know?

00:07 He's not little, he's an adult.

00:09 He's seen the world, he's the best in the world.

00:12 His older brothers, Nikola and Strahinja, used to play basketball.

00:21 So we met each other at the basketball court.

00:23 We became friends and ever since I know both of them, I know Nikola.

00:28 Nikola was very little and chubby, smart boy.

00:32 He's very humble, highly intelligent.

00:35 He's got photographic memory.

00:37 Everything he sees once, he memorises that forever.

00:41 He was a little bit spoiled when he was very little, obviously because of two older brothers.

00:47 But he's a great person in every sense.

00:49 He's the best player, but he's coming from what person he is and from the family and everything else.

00:58 You could tell he's extremely talented.

01:01 He can do anything with a ball.

01:04 He could do that when he was 15 years old.

01:08 He could do the same thing he's doing today.

01:10 It's amazing.

01:11 Nowadays he's stronger, he's extremely strong.

01:15 I compare him as a gorilla.

01:19 When I was travelling to Africa, I brought him a big gorilla made of wood, carved gorilla.

01:25 He didn't have big muscles like Dwight Howard or some other guys when he was younger.

01:33 But he was always persistent.

01:35 He was doing hard and he was working more than everybody else.

01:41 Didn't change him at all.

01:43 Some characteristics became more broad and more exponent.

01:48 He's more intelligent now.

01:50 There is a long road ahead of Nikola.

01:53 I'm hoping and I think he's going to achieve more and more.

01:59 I personally do.

02:01 But let's not put any burden on his back.

02:06 Let him do what he does best.

02:09 [Music]