In 2012, he left his youth team in Novi Sad, near his hometown of Sombor, to join Mega Basket of the Adriatic League. Dejan Milojevic, Mega’s coach, remembers his first impression of the 17-year-old. “I knew immediately that this guy’s incredibly talented,” Milojevic says, “but his body’s in terrible shape.” Jokic’s doughy physique has endeared him to Stateside fans, but early on his couch-potato tendencies—as a teenager he had a three-liter-a-day Coca-Cola habit—presented serious concerns. Worried that Jokic would injure himself going through full Mega practices, Milojevic assigned him to work with only a trainer for a month to improve his conditioning. Afterward, Milojevic stashed Jokic on the club’s junior team.