Nikola Jokic led the Denver Nuggets to their first NBA title on Monday and won MVP honors too. But in the wake of the series-clinching victory over the Miami Heat, the center appeared in no mood to celebrate, or to celebrate any future celebrations. (Watch the videos below.)
Informed during the press conference that the victory parade in Denver was Thursday, the Serbian star gave an emphatic “no.”
“I need to go home,” he said, burying his face in his palm.
The reply prompted laughter from the press, and Jokic continued with his downbeat take. The two-time league MVP, known for his dry wit, even suggested he didn’t like his line of work.
“We succeeded in our jobs and we won the whole thing,” he said. “It’s an amazing feeling. But like I said before, it’s not everything in the world. … There is bunch of things that I like to do. Probably that’s a normal thing. Nobody likes his job, or maybe they do. They’re lying. But it’s a good feeling.”
Jokic repeatedly showed relief that the grind was over and that he wasn’t thrilled to mark the occasion.
In the immediate aftermath of beating the Miami Heat, he told ESPN: “The job is done, we can go home now.”
Jokic half-joked that he was going to ask Nuggets president Josh Kroenke to “gimme a plane” to get him home perhaps by Friday and definitely by Sunday, when one of his race horses apparently is competing.
“I put him under the pressure, yes I did,” Jokic said of Kroenke. “I don’t feel bad at all.”
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