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.

Now, Natalija can frequently be seen at Nikola’s games with their daughter Ognjena. In March 2023, Natalija shared a photo on her Instagram of Ognjena holding Nikola’s game ball from his 100th triple-double — an accomplishment only five other players have ever achieved in NBA history, as the AP reported.

When Nikola shattered another NBA record that April (he became the first NBA player to average 25 points, ten rebounds and five assists through his first 50 career postseason games, per Sports Illustrated), Natalija and Ognjena were there to cheer him on — with Ognjena seen on Instagram stories sporting a jacket with Nikola’s name and number on the back.

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.

She and Nikola both hail from Sombor, Serbia

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-and-white 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.

“After my career is over, I’m gonna go back there,” Nikola told Bleacher Report. “It’s super slow — not too much going on — but you have everything. You have a canal, nature; you can get peace of mind outside the city. I just like to be some place where I know how to drive a car without navigation. How I say, no place like home? Something like that.”

She and Nikola are high school sweethearts

Natalija and Nikola have been together since they were teenagers, with Natalija sharing a throwback photo of the couple from October 2012 on her Instagram — when they were both just 17 years old. Natalija regularly features snapshots of them on her social media, chronicling their travels and major life moments, including their wedding and the birth of their daughter.

Natalija often shares her affection and admiration for her husband on Instagram as well. In February 2019, the first season Nikola was named to the NBA All-Star team, Natalija posted a photo of her and Nikola captioned, “All Star of my heart.”

But even as Nikola’s basketball career has taken off, the couple have remained down to earth. In February 2021, when Nikola won Western Conference Player of the Month, he told reporters that he celebrated “with my wife at home.”

“I mean, that’s what I did,” he added.

She moved to the U.S. before Nikola to play college volleyball

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.

She lived in an apartment with Nikola and his two older brothers

When Nikola first moved to Denver to play for the Nuggets in 2015, he lived in a three-bedroom apartment downtown with his two older brothers — Nemanja and Strahinja — and his then-girlfriend Natalija. For Natalija, living with the three Jokic brothers meant witnessing several intense indoor basketball games, thanks to a mini-hoop they hung in the hallway, per Sports Illustrated.

“It’s a little small for us now,” Nikola told the outlet, “but we’re still playing one-on-one, taking charges, swearing at each other.”

The Jokic brothers weren’t only competitive when it came to apartment basketball matches; they also had intense video game battles and Uno games, the latter of which Nikola claims his brothers always cheated at.

“They don’t know how to lose,” Natalija told Bleacher Report about living with Nikola and his brothers.

Despite the fun and games the brothers had in the apartment, Nikola found the adjustment to Denver to be difficult. Having his siblings and Natalija there helped ease the transition to his new city and country, though.

“My brothers came with me and my girlfriend came with me, so we tried to make our home here and not allow all the different things to bother us,” he told SLAM magazine. “I actually like Denver as a city — it reminds me a little of my hometown in Serbia because I like nature, mountains, rivers and trees.”

She Nikola got married in October 2020 in their hometown

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.

A video of Nikola and Natalija at their wedding surfaced on Twitter, and it featured the NBA star center dancing and singing with his new bride. Natalija also shared several photos from their big day on her Instagram account, calling the nuptials her “favorite party of all time.”

Since their wedding day, Nikola always keeps a piece of his bride close by — even when he’s on the road for the NBA. The Nuggets center now ties his wedding ring to his sneakers before every game, as seen in several photos posted on Twitter.

The couple welcomed a daughter in September 2021

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 (as seen on Natalija’s Instagram stories).

But balancing NBA life and fatherhood hasn’t always been easy for Nikola. In a rare interview given with Arena TV at his home in Serbia, Nikola opened up about what it is like to be away from his daughter while traveling for the NBA.

“I play 100 games away, I’m not home for 100 days,” he said. “When I come home, Ognjena is different. Literally in five days, she changes you know.”