Nikola Jokic hasn’t been speaking to the media during the 2024 Paris Olympics, with Jokic intentionally avoiding every media request that comes his way. Serbian teammate and Hawks’ guard Bogdan Bogdanovic revealed why the reigning NBA MVP is so elusive to interview during FIBA competitions as compared to when he’s with the NBA.
“He’s great, but he only likes to talk to me, you know that. In the NBA, if he doesn’t talk to the media, he’ll get fined. But here (in the Olympics), there are no fines. So he says, ‘I don’t need to.’ No offense to you guys.”
We have seen and heard many players talk about how they’re fulfilling media commitments purely to avoid being fined by Adam Silver and the NBA. Given that the NBA just signed a new $70 billion media rights deal this summer, the league will ensure that its media partners have access to whichever player they want to put on air on a particular night.
Fadeaway World covered Serbia during their pre-Olympic exhibition games in Abu Dhabi against Australia and the United States of America. As expected, Jokic avoided all media members, but Bogdanovic stopped by to give us a quick exclusive interview.
Jokic has been fulfilling his duty on the court as the leader of Team Serbia. He’s averaging 19.3 points, 11.8 rebounds, and 7.3 assists through four games at the Olympics, as Serbia have reached the semi-final. Jokic is leading the tournament in rebounds.
He led Serbia to a 95-90 win over Australia in the quarter-finals, putting up 21 points, 14 rebounds, and nine assists.
They’ll be facing Team USA for the third time in the last month in their next matchup to decide who’ll qualify for the Gold medal game. The USA has won the previous two encounters, so Serbia will need something special to change the outcome this time.
Another Chapter Of The Embiid-Jokic Rivalry To Be Written?
A matchup between Serbia and the USA means another clash between Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid, with the two players having won the last four MVP awards handed out in the NBA. While Jokic has a definitive lead in this rivalry with more MVPs, a title, and a more impactful international career, Embiid has the opportunity to win an Olympic Gold over him.
Given the disparity in roster strength, Embiid needs to find a way to also outplay Jokic. Even with the USA winning two games against Serbia already, Embiid was comprehensively outplayed by Jokic on the court. As a result, Embiid has tried multiple times to downplay this rivalry he’s egged on in the regular season.
“I don’t care about Jokic. I’m playing for my national team. That’s what it’s all about. We’re focusing on ourselves and trying to make sure everyone’s on the same page. When we get there, we all know what we got to focus on.”
As the starting center, Embiid should care about Jokic, the opponent’s starting center. It’s a weird and evasive mindset from Embiid, who knows comparisons with Jokic have hurt him over the last few seasons.
He also won’t outperform Jokic in the national team because Jokic’s responsibility for Serbia is much higher than what Embiid holds for the USA, as the team can literally drop him with no negative impact on the result.
This rivalry will heat up in the NBA if Embiid plays in the games against the Nuggets, but it seems Joel would rather focus on Team USA’s goals right now instead of proving a point on the Olympic stage.
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