Coming off playing for the Serbian national team last summer in EuroBasket and then making a championship run with the Nuggets all the way into June, Nikola Jokić is reportedly going to skip playing in the World Cup this summer for Serbia.
Jokić has informed the Serbian national team coach Svetislav Pesic he will take the summer off, according to a report from Dejan Stankovic of Mozzart Sport (hat tip Eurohoops.net). Team captain Bogdan Bogdanovic tried to talk Jokić into playing, but the Nuggets center decided to give his body a rest before returning to Denver to defend their title.
This shouldn’t be a surprise considering the round-the-calendar basketball Jokić was playing, and the report out of Europe said there was skepticism he would play. Still, for international players there is a strong pull to represent their national teams — those nations don’t have the depth of the United States to replace stars with another star — but Jokić is taking this summer off. That likely means he would play for Serbia next summer in the Paris Olympics (when the top American stars likely show up as well).
It’s not just Jokić who appears to be out for Serbia, new Thunder guard Vasilije Micic and Barcelona forward Nikola Kalinc are both expected to skip the World Cup. That will knock Serbia off the perch as one of the teams most likely to upset the United States and win the World Cup.
The World Cup tips off Aug. 25 and will be played across the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia (Team USA will play all its games in Manilla), and FIBA has set it up so this tournament is the primary qualifier for the Paris Olympics. The 32 competing teams are divided into eight groups of four, with the top two teams in each group advancing to the 16-team knockout round.
The USA is in Group C and will face Greece (likely without Giannis Antetokounmpo), New Zealand and Jordan. Before heading to Manilla, USA Basketball will conduct a training camp in Las Vegas in August, after which they will play Puerto Rico in an exhibition before heading to Abu Dhabi and, eventually, the World Cup.
