Nikola Jokic’s Wife Natalija Played at SSC
NBA - Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic can always count on one fan to be in the stands: his wife Natalija Jokic.
Though the couple got married in October 2020, Natalija has been by Nikola’s side since their teenage years. When Nikola joined the Nuggets in 2015, she moved to Denver with him — and has been supporting the two-time NBA MVP from the sidelines ever since.
In June 2023, Nikola was named NBA Finals MVP after the Denver Nuggets secured their first NBA championship. Soon after his Game 5 victory, Altitude TV posted a video on Twitter of Natalija cheering on her husband from the stands. In the clip, the proud wife wore a Nuggets jersey as she held her daughter and screamed in joy. “The celebration from Jokić wife is everything!” the outlet captioned the clip.
For Nikola, having the support of his wife and daughter has been invaluable while he competes in the NBA.
“I think all of us who have a wife and kids should be happy with the persons we have beside us,” he told Serbia’s Arena TV that January. “When you have a normal life, it lifts you up and only helps you.”
So, who is Nikola Jokic’s wife? Here’s everything to know about Natalija Jokic and her relationship with the NBA star.
Natalija and Nikola are both from Sombor, Serbia, a small city of about 47,000 people in the northwestern part of the country. Though the couple have been living in Denver since 2015, Nikola frequently speaks fondly of their home nation.
“It’s a really small town on the northwest of Serbia. We have really nice nature,” Nikola described to SLAM magazine. “But I just like the people there. It’s like family.”
When Nikola and Natalija first moved to Denver for his NBA career, they brought one small piece of home into their already-furnished apartment. They hung a small black-andwhite photograph of Kralja Peter, the main street in Sombor, where they would spend summer nights and get ice cream, according to Bleacher Report.
The pair often return to Sombor during the NBA off-season, as the Denver Post reported. In May 2022, after Nikola won his second consecutive MVP award, the star center accepted the coveted award from a horse stable in Sombor — with several of his Nuggets’ coaches present, thanks to a surprise visit that Natalija helped arrange. Nikola has also stated that, once he’s done playing in the NBA, he and his family will return to Sombor for good.
While Nikola was still playing basketball in Serbia, Natalija moved to the U.S. in 2013 to play volleyball at Seminole State College in Oklahoma. The former setter played two seasons at Seminole State — and was one of the reasons Nikola was persuaded to pursue a basketball career in the U.S.
A 2017 profile of Nikola in Sports Illustrated reported that the center turned down a contract from the Denver Nuggets to join their team mid-season in 2014. But Nikola began to reconsider making the move to Denver when thinking of his two older brothers, who loved the U.S., and Natalija, who was in Oklahoma at the time.
When Nikola did move to Denver to play for the Nuggets in 2015, Natalija left Seminole State and her volleyball career to join him. She graduated from the Metropolitan State University of Denver in 2018, according to a post she shared on Instagram.
After getting engaged in January 2020, Nikola and Natalija got married on Oct. 24, 2020, in Sombor, Serbia. The wedding was originally scheduled for June 2020 but was pushed back after the NBA moved its season to the bubble in Orlando, Florida, following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Less than a year after their wedding, Nikola and Natalija became parents when they welcomed a baby girl in September 2021. They named their daughter Ognjena, which means “fiery” in Serbian. Natalija posted a photo from her baby shower on Instagram, captioned: “Thank you 2021, you were my favorite so far.”
Nikola went on to have a standout season following the birth of his daughter — winning the NBA MVP award for the second year in a row and leading the Nuggets to a playoff appearance. These days, Natalija and Ognjena are frequently on the sidelines to support him, often sporting jean jackets with his name and number.
