Nikola Nesterovic, a Serbian chess grandmaster and Jokic admirer, sees a predictive imagination at work in his countryman’s game. “We can see something, we’re planning our moves a couple of moves ahead,” Nesterovic says. “When Jokic sends the ball where there is no player”—lofting that pass behind Utah’s defense—“that’s kind of a chess move. He knows someone will be there.”