Nikola Jokic, a great player for the Serbia, will sit out the next FIBA World Cup to recover after Denver’s lengthy postseason run, according to the team’s head coach Svetislav Pesic, who announced on Monday.
Jokic is coming off a season in which he played 89 games for the Nuggets, including the playoffs. This helped the team win the franchise’s first NBA championship. Since the start of the 2019-20 season, the two-time Most Valuable Player has participated in a total of 288 games throughout the league’s regular season, which places him eighth in the company over that period.
According to MozzartSport, Pesic was quoted as saying that “with Jokic, we had several conversations” and that “I must say that they were some of the best conversations I’ve had with players who could not make it to the roster.” “He is mentally and physically spent, and he does not feel ready to take responsibility at this time.”
Vasilije Micic, another outstanding player for the national team who only recently inked a contract with the Oklahoma City Thunder for three years, will also not be participating in the World Cup that will take place this summer.
Since joining the NBA, Jokic has been a part of the Serbian national team on three separate occasions: during the 2016 and 2019 FIBA World Cups and, most recently, during the summer of 2018 for the Eurobasket.
This year’s World Cup will begin on August 25, and games will be contested in Indonesia, Japan, and the Philippines. This competition will award a total of seven spots for the 2024 Summer Olympics, which will be held in Paris.
