By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Besides headlining recent success of Serbia at the international stage, including Olympic medals in 2016 and 2024, Bogdan Bogdanovic and Nikola Jokic were close to joining forces at Partizan in 2013.
“He was supposed to come to Partizan to play with us,” the 32-year-old guard of the Los Angeles Clippers mentioned in an interview with the Denver Post, during an ongoing best-of-seven series opposite the Denver Nuggets and Jokic in the opening round of the 2025 NBA Playoffs presented by Google, “He stayed on Mega because he had a bigger role.”
“We played in preparation games twice, and we played in-season twice. I didn’t like him,” humorously added Bogdanovic on his introduction to the Joker, “Because he was goofy, and he wasn’t hitting shots. He was just passing.
“He could have scored one-on-one and everything. He was toying with [the game]. That’s a good word. He was like toying, joking with it,” he recalled.
Jokic went on to be drafted by the Nuggets with the 41st overall pick of the 2014 NBA draft and become a franchise player. His success is highlighted by winning an NBA championship in 2023.
Bogdanovic stayed with Partizan until 2014, before a three-year stint with Fenerbahce culminating in a Turkish Airlines EuroLeague championship in 2017. Moving his talents to the league based in North America, he spent three years with the Sacramento Kings and five years with the Atlanta Hawks, before a trade to the Clippers in February.
Photo Credit: FIBA