Natalija Jokic has been part of Nikola Jokic’s life since they were sixteen-year-olds hanging around the same café in Sombor, Serbia, long before he became a three-time NBA MVP and NBA champion with the Denver Nuggets.
She is a former college volleyball player and a psychology graduate, and today the mother of two children with Jokic.
Their relationship has run parallel to his entire rise in basketball, from a shared three-bedroom apartment with his brothers in Denver to a wedding delayed by COVID and guarded by police.
It includes one small, specific detail that became one of the most talked-about parts of his public image, a wedding ring he tied to his sneakers before every game for years.
Natalija Jokic Biography
She was born January 4, 1995, in Sombor, Serbia, a city of roughly 47,000 people about 180 kilometers north of Belgrade. Natalija Mačešić is one of three children, growing up alongside her mother, Danica Mačešić, and two sisters, Maja and Dragana Mačešić.
Natalija Jokic and Nikola Jokic crossed paths as teenagers in the 2000s, hanging out in the same local café in Sombor where he and his friends spent time.
The two were friends for about eight months before their relationship turned romantic, and they began dating at age 16.
In 2013, Natalija moved to the United States to play volleyball at Seminole State College in Oklahoma, where she competed as a setter for two seasons and earned academic recognition alongside her athletic career.
Nikola followed two years later, in 2015, after being drafted by the Denver Nuggets and leaving Serbia’s KK Mega Basket. Natalija transferred from Seminole State to the Metropolitan State University of Denver to be near him.
In their early Denver years, Natalija lived with Nikola and his two older brothers in a shared three-bedroom apartment, and Nikola has said in a Bleacher Report interview that she did the most cooking of the four roommates.
She graduated from MSU Denver with a bachelor’s degree in psychology in 2018 and went on to earn a master’s degree in psychology from the same university.
Nikola Jokic’s Wife
Nikola Jokic proposed to Natalija in January 2020. The wedding was originally planned for that June, but was postponed amid the COVID-19 pandemic, complicated further by Jokic reportedly testing positive for the virus around that time.
The two ultimately married on October 24, 2020, in an intimate, heavily secured ceremony in their hometown of Sombor, Serbia, with police stationed at the entrance to the church and a guest list limited to close family and friends, some of whom joined virtually through livestream.
Natalija posted photos from the celebration on Instagram, captioning one that it was her favorite party of all time, and footage of the two dancing at the reception circulated widely online afterward.
Roughly a year after the wedding, Natalija gave birth to their first child, a daughter named Ognjena, on September 30, 2021. Ognjena means fiery in Serbian.
In November 2024, Natalija gave birth to their second child, a son named Ignjat.
The Wedding Ring Tradition
For years, Nikola Jokic tied his wedding ring to his sneaker laces before every game. This small, personal gesture became one of the most recognizable and frequently photographed details of his on-court routine, a visible reminder of Natalija and their family carried with him through every game he played.
The tradition ended in 2024, not because of any rule change but because Jokic lost the ring during a game. Natalija gave him a replacement, and he lost that one too, after which he stopped tying a ring to his shoes altogether.
Natalija and Ognjena have become regular, recognizable presences at Nuggets home games, cheering from the stands in team jerseys, including throughout Denver’s playoff runs.
One of the most widely shared moments came after Game 2 of a 2023 playoff series against the Phoenix Suns, when television cameras caught Ognjena pointing to her own ring finger as Jokic left the court, a nod to the pursuit of his first NBA championship, and Jokic smiling and pointing back to his own ring finger in response.
Weeks later, after the Nuggets defeated the Miami Heat to win the 2023 NBA Finals, Jokic carried Ognjena onto the court in front of Natalija while holding the Bill Russell NBA Finals MVP trophy, one of the defining images of that championship run.
Natalija Jokic has also played a direct role in some of Nikola’s biggest career moments off the court. In 2022, she helped arrange for Nuggets staff to travel to Sombor to surprise Nikola with his NBA MVP trophy in his hometown, rather than have him receive it in Denver, a gesture that let him celebrate the award among family and neighbors in Serbia.
Jokic has spoken directly about what his family means to him amid the demands of an NBA season. In an interview with Serbia’s Arena Sport TV, he said that anyone with a wife and kids like his should feel happy about it, adding that having a normal life outside basketball only helps him.
In a separate interview, he described the toll of the schedule itself, noting that he plays roughly 100 games away from home each season, and that Ognjena changes noticeably in the days after he returns from a long stretch on the road.
He has also spoken fondly of Sombor itself, telling Slam that he likes the nature there but mostly the people, describing the town as feeling like family, and telling Bleacher Report that his own father is deeply passionate about watching his games, screaming and yelling from wherever he’s watching.
Career
Nikola Jokic has played his entire NBA career with the Denver Nuggets after being selected in the second round of the 2014 draft out of KK Mega Basket in Serbia, a draft position he has since joked about publicly given how his career turned out.
He is an eight-time NBA All-Star and has been named to the All-NBA Team seven times, five of those on the first team.
He has won NBA MVP three times, for the 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2023-24 seasons, becoming the first center to win multiple MVPs since the award’s modern era.
In 2023, he led the Nuggets to their first NBA championship in franchise history, winning Finals MVP in the process, a title run that Natalija and Ognjena were present for at Ball Arena.
He has also represented Serbia’s national team internationally, winning a silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics and a bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Natalija Jokic’s Net Worth
Natalija Jokic’s net worth is estimated at $900,000, tied to her career in psychology and her family’s broader financial position.
Her husband, Nikola Jokic’s net worth is estimated at $120 million, built from his NBA contracts, his three MVP awards, his 2023 championship, and endorsement deals.
