“Basketball is just something I’m good at” – Jokic’s recent admission explains viral video of crying when his horse won a race in Serbia originally appeared on Basketball Network.
A video clip of Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic, who was brought to tears after one of his horses recently won a race in his native Serbia, is going viral on the internet.
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The three-time MVP’s love for horses is public knowledge. Everyone knew that when Jokic was more excited to go home to his horses rather than go on a parade with his teammates around Denver after the Nuggets won the 2023 NBA title. However, he’s taken it to a different level this summer.
Earlier this month, Nikola was also captured on camera wearing a black shirt, celebrating like he won an NBA game outside the horse track after one of his horses won a race. Then came the second video, where The Joker, wearing white this time around, showed more emotions than when he won the 2023 NBA championship after his horse, Demon Dell’Est, won a race in the Dužijanac 2025 at the Hippodrome in Subotica, Serbia.
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It’s not basketball that makes Jokic happy
Jokic was recently in China for a five-day promotional tour with Chinese shoe brand 361 Degrees, the maker of his signature shoes and the brand he ditched Nike for after winning the chip in ’23. The six-city tour ended in Beijing, where Nikola was taken to a horse ranch to conclude his visit, and the big man looked like he was very happy in his natural habitat.
Nikola also granted his hosts an interview while at the ranch, and it was during that conversation that he admitted horse-racing, not basketball, gives him the most immense fulfillment.
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“When people say what’s your biggest win, all my biggest victories and all my biggest losses are in the horse sports. All my biggest happiness was when one of my horses won a race. Same thing, all my biggest losses is when my horses don’t win. That’s my biggest happiness and sadness. It’s not basketball. Basketball is something that I’m just good at. But horses is something that I feel the most happiness and sadness,” said Jokic.
He has 40 to 45 horses in Serbia today
During another stop in his visit to China, Jokic also gave an interview, explaining how his love for horses had begun. The Joker talked about discovering horse racing first before picking up a basketball. And even when he started playing hoops, it gave Nikola a connection to horses.
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“It started probably 17,18 years ago. I didn’t have anybody in the family who was doing horses. And then one day I just go to the horse track, horse race, and I started loving it and started loving it. I started playing basketball, and my best friend, his dad, was doing horses, and so some kind of connection led me to the horses and then 17 years from that moment, I have 40, 45 horses right now, even more actually,” Jokic narrated.
Also, during his Chinese excursion, Jokic was gifted a sculpture of a horse’s head made of materials from his 361 Degree shoe. Not only was the Serbian shocked to see the impressive work of art, but he also held it proudly more than he raised any of his three MVP trophies or the 2023 Finals MVP award.
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Make no mistake, Jokic is expected to go all out for another NBA title as the Nuggets upgraded with Cam Johnson, Bruce Brown, Tim Hardaway Jr., and Jonas Valanciunas during the offseason. However, we all know what makes Nikola’s heart tick.
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jul 28, 2025, where it first appeared.