BELGRADE (Serbia) - Nikola Jokic has been held in high esteem by Serbia's basketball fans since his move to the Denver Nuggets in 2015.
Fans admire and respect him and his 2023 title and three MVP awards. Many view him as the best player in the world.
Yet nothing has endeared Jokic to his countrymen more than his performance for the national team at this year's Olympics, according to the Nuggets assistant coach Ognjen Stojakovic of Serbia.
"In general, I noticed that our people were not aware of how great a basketball player Nikola is," Stojakovic said in an interview with meridiansport.rs.
"Simply put, if you don't win something with the national team, they don't value you like those who won something, regardless of whether you have success with the club."
Why is this true?
"Few people know how much Serbia means to Nikola" - Stojakovic
National team basketball has for a very long time been in the blood of Serbians.
Jokic strengthened his connection to his compatriots because of the way he played as well.
There was passion, commitment and emotion in abundance.
He was a leader of the team.
"Nikola was the silver medalist with Serbia in Rio," Stojakovic said, "but he did not have a role as important as now in the Olympic Games.
"It seems to me that people are now becoming aware of how great a player he is."
Jokic displayed an unrivaled zeal in games in Paris, and not just in the two games against the USA.
He rescued Serbia in their overtime triumph against Australia in the Quarter-Finals with huge plays on both ends of the floor.
And for those that use statistics to gauge the importance of players, Jokic was better than everyone else.
He finished the Olympics with an astonishing tournament high efficiency of 31.0 per game. The closest player to him was Giannis Antetokounmpo at 26.5 EFF per game.
Efficiency is the composite statistic that combines individual statistics to account for a player's offensive and defensive contributions. Among the stats that go into efficiency are points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, turnovers, and shot attempts.
Paris, effectively, put Jokic in a different light.
"Few people know how much Serbia means to Nikola," Stojakovic said. "The fact that he did not play in some previous championships is only because he was exposed to a huge effort with the Nuggets.
"It's impossible to explain how difficult it is to carry an entire franchise on your shoulders. And he is a very responsible basketball player, a very responsible person. Therefore, he didn’t want to come and play for Serbia unprepared."
Is there a difference between the Jokic that plays for Denver and the Jokic that plays for Serbia?
Stojakovic believes there is.
"Emotions," he said. "The most important thing here (with the national team) is how Nikola looks at all those guys (teammates). When he's with them and when he plays for Serbia, everything is completely different for him."
FIBA