A fascinating question was put forward to Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic during a press conference at the NBA All-Star Weekend. The Former MVP was asked to pick his All-Star starting five from Europe and his answer definitely surprised a few people.
Selecting Luka Doncic with his first pick was no surprise. The 6’7″ Slovenian has established himself as one of the league’s premier scorers since joining the NBA in 2018. He has been named the NBA Rookie of the Year, selected to the All-Star Game on five occasions and is currently the leading scorer in the NBA with a whopping 34.2 points per game.
Nikola Jokic picks his All-Star staring 5 from Europe of players currently in the NBA:
– Luka Doncic
– Bogdan Bogdanovic
– Dario Saric
– Nikola Vucevicpic.twitter.com/b8tl1utxzT— Harrison Wind (@HarrisonWind) February 18, 2024
Jokic proceeded to name Atlanta Hawks guard Bogdan Bogdanović, Golden State Warriors forward Dario Šarić and Chicago Bulls center Nikola Vučević.
The starting five consists solely players from the Balkan region with Jokic favouring players from his side of the continent over Western European powerhouses like France, Germany and Greece.
While the Serbian put forward a competitive team, it is hard to imagine anyone leaving Giannis Antetokounmpo out of their starting five. The Greek sensation is a two-time NBA MVP and led the Milwaukee Bucks to the championship in 2021.
Victor Wembanyama, Domantas Sabonis, Kristaps Porzingis and Rudy Gobert are some of the other European stars that may consider themselves unfortunate to get passed up by Nikola Jokic.
