The Denver Nuggets are starting to make themselves relevant again, thanks, in large part, to budding superstar Nikola Jokic. Sports Illustrated’s Lee Jenkins joined Eric Goodman and Les Shapiro during The Afternoon Drive on Mile High Sports Radio to discuss his recent article on Jokic, including Jokic’s older brothers living with him in Denver.
Jenkins has been impressed by Jokic, but doesn’t want to call him a superstar just yet. Jenkins understands that being labeled a superstar requires a consistent track record, and Jokic simply hasn’t played long enough to be labeled as such.
“It’s too soon to probably call him a superstar, but you’re seeing the potential for it,” said Jenkins. “If you have the chance to steal one of those guys, to get one of those guys with the 41st pick, that’s really exciting and then you add on to that the fact that this guy’s going to be fun to play with.”
One aspect of Jokic’s story that many don’t know is that his two older brothers live with him here in Denver in order to keep him on the straight-and-narrow. One of Jokic’s older brothers, Nemanja, lived with well-known NBA bust Darko Milicic during his time with the Detroit Pistons, while playing college basketball at Detroit Mercy, as the two had grown up playing together in Serbia. Nemanja doesn’t want Nikola to make the same mistakes Milicic did.
“They’re on him,” Jenkins said of Nikola Jokic’s brothers. “These are the guys that drove last year, from Denver to New York, Denver to LA. They make these prodigious road trips. They’re on him. They’re at every game.”
Jokic isn’t the only foreigner to have his older brothers watching over him, as New York Knicks star Kristaps Porzingis also lives with his two older brothers.
“You see players in the NBA a lot, when they come over so early, either from Europe or even in America, they need that support system,” said Jenkins.
Although Jokic has been stellar this year, Jenkins still feels the Nuggets need to add a strong scorer to complement his skills.
“At some point, for them to be great, they’ll probably need someone who really takes advantage of Jokic’s playmaking and who can really score off of it,” he said.
Listen to the full interview with Lee Jenkins, including his thoughts on Giannis Antetokounmpo and what it may have been like to live with Darko Milicic, in the podcast below.
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