OAKLAND, Calif. — Nikola Jokic scrunched his face and squinted. He scanned the crowd, slowly spinning in a circle as he tried to spot his family at Oakland Arena. Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns wandered over and tapped his shoulder, pointing toward a corner of the stands where a fan was trying to catch Jokic’s attention.
Jokic waved back, then he stopped himself. It was not a relative.
“My bad,” Towns told him, laughing.
Less than a week from turning 30, Jokic was without his usual companion at All-Star weekend this year. Luka Doncic didn’t make the cut because of injuries, leaving Jokic in search of other contemporaries to fraternize with during the Bay Area festivities.
“It’s weird,” he said of Doncic’s absence, “because we always have a good night before the game.”
Jokic always says the aspect of All-Star weekend he enjoys most is “being around the guys.” Anyone in particular who he wouldn’t have many chances to get to know otherwise?
“Today I talked a little bit to KAT,” Jokic elaborated Saturday before taking the floor for an open practice. “We’ve played so many years together — not together, against each other. You’re just going to make some kind of relationship. It’s not something that we are close-close. We are not going to go to each other’s house. But we are doing the same job. We’re eating the same bread. So why not be a little bit communicative?”
In Towns, Jokic found a connection. They spent most of the ensuing practice window goofing around, “just having fun, man,” as Towns described it.
The former Timberwolves star is six months younger than Jokic. They’ve been playoff adversaries two years in a row and division foes for a decade. Now they’re in opposite conferences for the first time, with Towns traded to New York.
Jokic showed Towns a self-deprecating rendition of his Sombor Shuffle shooting form, dramatically cocking the ball back behind his head. They spent most of the practice window standing at the top of the arc and chatting. They each had a ball in their hands, but neither was interested in shooting.
“The feeling’s mutual, to be around him. We’ve played basketball against each other for a long, long time,” Towns said. “It started with us being teammates at the Nike Hoop Summit (in 2014). So it started off with me representing my country and him representing his country, and to be able to now be at the spot where we get to represent our countries (with) the brightest lights and the highest stage, I think there’s just a lot of mutual respect between us.”
Not everyone shares Jokic’s happy-go-lucky attitude about the event. Victor Wembanyama, a looming threat to Jokic’s window as the best player in the world, rolled into town with an all-business mindset uncommon for newcomers.
“I’m not here to make friends,” the French phenom said. “I know not everybody thinks like that, but that for sure is what I’m trying to (do). I have some questions for some of the greats, the OGs, but I’m definitely not here to make friends.”
As if to highlight their differences, Wembanyama pulled out a book in the locker room Sunday night before the game. “You really brought a book?” Jokic said from across the room.
“Yeah,” Wembanyama said. “I read before every game.”
Jokic shook his head and sighed.
For the most part, Denver’s three-time MVP is the object of attention and admiration more than ever at events like these. He was Charles Barkley’s first pick when three TNT analysts drafted the teams, a full-circle moment after he was selected at the tail end of a player-operated All-Star draft two years ago.
Cavs guard Donovan Mitchell was asked the five best players he’s ever seen play in person. After LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Steph Curry, Jokic was the fourth name on the list.
Defending NBA Coach of the Year Mark Daigneault of Oklahoma City got into a lengthy conversation with Jokic on the court during practice, lasting 10 minutes. “Talking ball, just chopping it up,” Daigneault said. “He’s talked to me over the years. We’ve played against them so much, he’ll pull me over out of halftime or before the game.”
And the three-time MVP was considered important enough that he was placed on his own in the news conference room for media day, while other players were stationed at mini-podiums in a room together for simultaneous interview sessions. Gimmicky questions were dispensed with during Jokic’s presser. He fielded prompts about a wide range of topics, largely focused on the state of the game internationally.
He may not be the face of the NBA, but he has clearly established himself as one of the spokesmen of world basketball.
“I think USA is a team (that) cannot lose because everybody wants to beat them, and every other team, including myself, including Serbia, we wanted to beat them,” he said when reflecting on last year’s Olympics as a referendum on the closing gap between the U.S. and the world. “And we (were) playing probably the best basketball that we can in that moment. … USA has more talented players than the rest of the world. Europe and the rest of the world has talented players, I think, but the majority of the players are coming from USA.”
Jokic still treated the All-Star stage with levity, even if he tried out fewer pranks than last year with Doncic as his co-conspirator. His highlights of the weekend included a backward half-court shooting competition with the Nuggets’ mascot and a cute moment saying hello to Trae Young’s child. In the game itself, he deferred to teammates as usual, lobbing an alley-oop to Wembanyama and sealing a defender inside the perimeter to make room for Towns to launch a deep 3-pointer.
The latter almost looked like a play that drawn up by the duo in advance.
“We’ve had a lot of battles and had a lot of moments where our careers have crossed paths,” Towns said. “… At All-Star weekend, (it’s) one of the few times we get to relax, let go a little bit and enjoy each other’s presence.”
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