Tag: Nikola Jovic

Nikola Jovic devastatingly botched what would’ve been Nikola Jokic’s historic Olympics triple-double

Nikola Jokic was unbelievably close to Olympics history.

After getting walloped by Team USA in its Paris Olympics opener, the Serbian men’s basketball team had a lot of work to do against Puerto Rico on Wednesday. With a 107-66 blowout victory, the Serbians, led by superstar Nikola Jokic, passed their test with flying colors, flipping their -26 point differential coming in to a solid +15 margin.

Jokic, in particular, and unsurprisingly, was in his bag.

The three-time NBA MVP with the Denver Nuggets dropped an effortless 14 points, 15 rebounds, and nine assists while missing just two shots. With no real challenge from the Puerto Rican front line, Jokic was in complete control, even throwing casual “touchdown passes” to teammates down the court without a second thought:

Ironically, the same person who caught this above pass — Miami Heat power forward Nikola Jovic — is also who cost Jokic a chance at all-time Olympics history in Serbia’s dominant win.

That’s because with the Serbians cruising, it had no incentive to play Jokic in the fourth quarter. They don’t want to tire him out in an easy win when there will likely be more competitive games in these Olympics in the near future. But before being benched for rest at the end of the third quarter, Jokic still found Jovic for an easy layup that would’ve given the center only the fourth triple-double in the history of the men’s Olympics.

And … Jovic smoked it, forcing Jokic to take the offensive rebound and score himself. Jokic would not reenter the game later, finishing with just nine assists while ending his chances of being etched into the lore of international basketball. Oof.

For reference, the three triple-doubles in men’s Olympics history came from:

  1. Sasha Belov for the Soviet Union against Canada during Montreal 1976
  2. LeBron James for the USA against Australia in London 2012
  3. Luka Doncic for Slovenia against France in Tokyo 2021

If there’s any consolation for Jokic, it that he probably doesn’t care he missed out on this individual feat. He wants Serbia to win first and foremost, to get a medal in these Olympics, because he’s a team guy first and foremost.

Here was teammate Bogdan Bogdanovic’s take on Jokic missing out, per FIBA:

“We heard that he’s on 9 assists, somebody shouted it from the stands,” Bogdanovic said. “But trust me, he doesn’t really care about this stuff.”

That’s all well and good, but it still would’ve been really cool for Jokic to etch his name into the record books for Serbia with an Olympics triple-double. That’s not a chance you get every day. This is only Jokic’s second-ever Olympics playing for his home country, after all.

At least the big man is likely to get a few more opportunities to do so in Paris.

Nikola Jovic Q&A: ‘From a young age, I always want to be the best no matter what’

Serbian big man Nikola Jovic sat down with HoopsHype to discuss how he’s developed, what it’s like playing with Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, what’s his natural position, and more.

Serbian big man Nikola Jovic became a pivotal part of the Heat’s rotation in his second NBA season shooting almost 40 percent from deep and starting 38 games.

Jovic sat down with HoopsHype, on behalf of adidas Eurocamp, to discuss how he’s developed, what it’s like playing with Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, what’s his natural position, and more.

Nikola Jovic: ‘I’m just waiting for the opportunity. You can’t rush through things’

Even though the Miami Heat are in win-now mode, they always have players they develop from the bottom up. Nikola Jovic is the latest young player to go through their system. Now in his second season with the Miami Heat, he hopes to become the next …

Even though the Miami Heat are in win-now mode, they always have players they develop from the bottom up. Nikola Jovic is the latest young player to go through their system. Now in his second season with the Miami Heat, he hopes to become the next Serbian to make a name for himself.

After a recent game against the Clippers, Jovic chatted briefly with HoopsHype to talk about his development, staying patient, the World Cup, and more.

Team Serbia roster: Meet the national team fighting for gold at the 2023 FIBA World Cup

Serbia made it to the 2023 FIBA World Cup Finals even without Nikola Jokic.

Canada was long considered one of the two favorites to win the 2023 FIBA World Cup, but they lost to Serbia in the semifinals.

After the upset victory over Canada on Friday in the Philippines, the Serbian national team will advance to the finals and will face Germany for a chance to win the gold medal in the competition.

Serbia is coached by Svetislav “Kari” Pešić, who has previously coached Barcelona as well as Bayern and Valencia in the Euroleague. He also possesses German citizenship and coached the German national team from 1987 until 1993 and then again in 2012.

His roster at the FIBA World Cup has three NBA players, which is one fewer than his German opponents (4) in the championship game.

Serbia is without key players who could represent the nation, including NBA Finals MVP Nikola Jokic. Others with NBA experience who are eligible to play for Serbia but not on the roster include Vasilije Micic, Milos Teodosic, Boban Marjanovic and Aleksej Pokusevski.

Despite that, however, Serbia currently has the best point differential among all teams in the tournament.

Here are the Serbian players representing their country in this competition.

RELATED: Nikola Jovic sure looks like the centerpiece of a Damian Lillard trade during the FIBA World Cup

Nikola Jovic mocked Dillon Brooks’ boxing gloves after Serbia beat Canada in the FIBA semis

He got Brooks back after the win.

Dillon Brooks got a taste of his own medicine after Serbia took down Canada in the FIBA World Cup semifinals.

The Canadian small forward was ejected from the last game he played before the semis, and after Canada won, he greeted his teammates with boxing gloves.

But like Dennis Schroder before him, Nikola Jovic — who looks like the real deal — decided to troll Brooks after Serbia beat Canada. Cameras caught the Miami Heat draft pick walking toward the locker room and doing a little boxing routine in celebration.

Gee, I wonder what he was referencing there? Oh, right. Check it out:

Nikola Jovic sure looks like the centerpiece of a Damian Lillard trade during the FIBA World Cup

Jovic was PERFECT during his most recent game for Serbia.

As the Heat and Trail Blazers continue trade talks for Damian Lillard, a name certain to come up is 2022 first-round pick Nikola Jovic.

The latest update on that front is that the Trail Blazers are reportedly “not impressed” with Miami’s offer for Lillard, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Portland’s front office may have to reconsider its stance, however, based on Jovic’s performance during the 2023 FIBA World Cup thus far.

Only recently 20 years old, the 6-foot-10 wing is the youngest player on the roster for the Heat. He helped lead Serbia to a perfect 3-0 record during team group play in the World Cup and now his team will advance to the next round of the tournament.

Jovic personally finished with 17 points (6-of-9 FG, 3-of-4 3P), 3 rebounds and 4 assists against Puerto Rico. But he was even more impressive playing against South Sudan in the final game of group play, recording 25 points (9-of-9 FG, 4-of-4 3P) with 2 rebounds and 3 assists.

He recorded no turnovers and has committed just one personal foul in 75 minutes of group play.

Serbia outscored its opponents by 68 points when he was on the court, per FIBA, which is the highest mark of any player not from the United States or Canada.

Jovic is 8-of-12 (66.7 percent) on his jump shots and 8-of-10 (80.0 percent) at the rim since the tournament began. Overall, per Synergy, he is averaging 1.89 points per possession — which is the most efficient mark of any player in the FIBA World Cup.

He ranks third-best among all players in HoopsHype’s Global Rating, trailing only All-NBA guards Luka Doncic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

So what is going on with the sudden emergence? Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra recently noted that this was a big offseason for Jovic, who had already bulked up from 220 pounds to 239 pounds when NBA 2K24 Summer League began (via Sun-Sentinel):

“Everything we were doing with our program from the conditioning to the weight-room work to the rehab work to the basketball skills development was to prepare him for summer league and then potentially have an opportunity to play for his national team.”

During that stretch of four games, he averaged 21.7 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists per 36 minutes for Miami.

Jovic has stated that he hopes to stay with the Heat because the organization has helped him a lot, but he also acknowledged that whatever happens will happen.

The reality is that Jovic is an ideal trade centerpiece for a move involving Lillard. He is 6-foot-10 and yet he is capable of hitting jumpers off the dribble, connecting on all three of these opportunities during exhibition play for Serbia before the World Cup officially began.

Unlike other rumored trade pieces from Miami for Lillard (like Tyler Herro), Jovic doesn’t have the same positional overlap with the foundational players already on Portland’s roster like Scoot Henderson and Anfernee Simons. He can complement what the Trail Blazers are already building.

If his hot streak continues, perhaps a trade between Portland Miami happens sooner than later after all.

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Mock trade has Nets trading Spencer Dinwiddie for Duncan Robinson, Nikola Jovic

In this mock trade suggested by James Piercey of the NBA Analysis Network, the Brooklyn Nets would be trading Spencer Dinwiddie to the Heat.

The Brooklyn Nets have their roster set for the most part going into the 2023-24 season, but a trade can be made at anytime. For Brooklyn, if they want to put themselves in a better position to make the playoffs, they will need to add something to the roster that they are lacking.

As of right now, the core of the team is set in stone with Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, and Nic Claxton along with important veterans in Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith, and Royce O’Neale. However, much has been made about how much shooting the Nets lost this offseason now that players like Joe Harris and Seth Curry are no longer on the team.

While Brooklyn will be one of the better teams in the league on the defensive side of the ball, they will need to be better on offense if they want a shot at the postseason. This trade suggested by James Piercey of the NBA Analysis Network could be one that gets more offense and shooting in Brooklyn:

Heat rookie Nikola Jovic made the NBA Finals before graduating high school

Nikola Jovic made the NBA Finals with the Miami Heat — before graduating high school.

The NBA put a stop to players jumping straight from high school to the NBA, but it seems at least one international player found a workaround — Miami Heat rookie Nikola Jovic has yet to graduate high school.

That much has been known all season, ever since team head coach Erik Spoelstra said in training camp that Jovic skipped his final exams to prepare for the NBA draft. Spoelstra confirmed in March that Jovic has yet to graduate. The 19-year-old planned to finish his courses over Zoom, but instead must return to Europe to take his finals, according to Sun-Sentinel reporter Ira Winderman, which means he has not had a chance to complete them.

With that in mind — Jovic has made the NBA Finals before graduating high school, as Playbook Sports pointed out on Twitter:

When was the last time this happened? Surely it must have at some point in league history, potentially multiple times, but the NBA states that players must be at least one year removed from the graduating class; however, there is an exception for international players. Therefore, Jovic is not breaking any rules.

It would make sense for Jovic to return to Europe over the summer and finish, but he’s kind of busy right now — maybe he’ll be able to don an NBA championship ring with his cap and gown while everyone else is wearing class rings.

Heat rookie Nikola Jovic produces first double-double in G League

Jovic registered his first double-double on assignment in the G League in just his second game back from a back injury.

Miami Heat rookie Nikola Jovic on Wednesday registered his first double-double on assignment in the G League to lead the Sioux Falls Skyforce in an overtime loss to the South Bay Lakers.

Jovic produced a season-high 26 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots in the 127-125 loss. He finished 7-of-14 from the field, including 3-of-5 from 3-point range, in 42 minutes of work off the bench.

The contest was the second for Jovic since he missed two months with a lower back injury. He returned to play with the Skyforce on Monday, recording 12 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots in a win over the Lakers.

Jovic is averaging 9.9 points, 7.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists and one block on 31% shooting from the field in eight games with Sioux Falls. He has scored in double figures three times and has hauled in 10 or more rebounds in four games.

Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra on Monday said the team would like to keep Jovic with the Skyforce to allow him the opportunity to log extended minutes. With six games left in the regular season, it is possible Jovic appears in each of those games.

After missing time with injury, the Heat are hopeful Jovic’s time in the G League can help him build some positive momentum heading into the offseason.

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Nikola Jovic neared a double-double in return from injury in G League

Jovic returned from a two-month absence on Monday and nearly recorded a double-double in the G League.

Miami Heat rookie Nikola Jovic returned from a two-month absence on Monday and registered a double-digit-scoring outing on assignment in the G League with the Sioux Falls Skyforce.

Jovic produced 12 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots in a 135-133 win on the road over the South Bay Lakers. He finished 3-of-7 from the field, including 2-of-3 from 3-point range, in 25 minutes of action.

The 27th pick looked comfortable on the court and neared a double-double in the process. He made plays on both ends of the court and had some highlight-reel plays.

Jovic last played on Dec. 31 with the Skyforce, recording four points and three rebounds in 26 minutes. He was diagnosed with a lower back stress reaction on Jan. 3 and was ruled out for at least a month.

Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra on Monday said the team would like to keep Jovic with the Skyforce for as long as possible to allow him the opportunity to log extended minutes.

“He just needs to play,” Spoelstra said. “That is the most important thing. Physically, he feels much better. He has done all of the drill work, all of the player development. He needs 5-on-5 and as many practices (as he can). There are not a ton of games left but all of that will be important to set up his offseason.”

The appearance by Jovic was his seventh with the Skyforce.

He is averaging 7.7 points, 7.3 rebounds and 3.7 assists on 27% shooting from the field with Sioux Falls. He finished in double figures for only the second time on Monday and was just shy of matching his season high of 13 points on Dec. 12.

The Skyforce return to play with the Lakers again on Wednesday.

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