The Denver Nuggets have been trying hard to build a championship-winning roster around Nikola Jokic this summer after losing in Game 7 the Western Conference Semifinals for the second year in a row. With the new tandem of Ben Tenzer and Jon Wallace leading the way in the front office, they’ve gone out and signed key players to minimum contracts and made big trades to free up cap room and bring new faces to town.
While the Nuggets’ brass has been hard at work to make Jokic happy after he said that the Nuggets didn’t have enough to compete with the top teams in the league, the three-time MVP has been enjoying his summer overseas.
He went on his annual rafting trip, he was spotted celebrating one of his horses winning a race at the track and he just wrapped up his tour to China as the global ambassador of 361 Degrees, the shoe company that he is partnered with. He touched down in one of the world’s biggest countries back on Thursday, and Monday is the last day of the adventure as he’s visiting six cities in five days.
The Serbian superstar was interviewed over the weekend and was asked about his expectations for the 2025-26 season with arguably the best roster he’s had alongside him in Denver.
“I mean, of course the full force goal is always a championship, to bring this trophy back,” Jokic said. “I think we have a chance, we have a good team, now it’s up to us to make a good chemistry and try to win as much, as many games as possible.
@361sport_official 🏀[Jokić Quick Q&A] Get Ready to See the MVP Like Never Before! 🥳 #nikola #nikolajokic #joker1 #361 #361sport #361degrees #nuggets #peppapig #fyp #basketball #chinatour ♬ 1901 – Instrumental – Phoenix
That statement from Jokic shows that he’s taken note of what the front office has done this offseason, and he knows that the burden is now on the players and the coaching staff to go out an execute. The roster looks great on paper, but it’s an entirely different ballgame when it’s five guys on the court together in May looking to win a high-stakes playoff game. Throughout his career, he has shown the ability to create chemistry with everyone in a Nuggets jersey around him, so that shouldn’t be much of a challenge with the new faces in town in Cam Johnson, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Bruce Brown.
Jokic’s China tour has been a great success so far. He raced a high-speed bullet train, had thousands of fans lined up to see him wherever he went and even taught his fans some Serbian along the way. If he wanted to be the face of the NBA, he surely would be able to because he has a strong fanbase that extends to every corner of the globe.
For fans looking to see everything Jokic has been up to in China recently, the official Tik Tok page of 361 Degrees has all the videos and updates here.
