{"id":18259,"date":"2025-07-24T10:08:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T10:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/18259\/"},"modified":"2025-07-24T10:08:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T10:08:11","slug":"jovic-excited-about-being-back-with-serbian-family-fiba-basketball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/18259\/","title":{"rendered":"Jovic excited about being back with Serbian family\u00a0|\u00a0FIBA Basketball"},"content":{"rendered":"

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BELGRADE (Serbia) – The FIBA EuroBasket 2025 is just more than a month away and Nikola Jovic cannot wait to play the continent’s main event – and doing so for the first time with guys he calls his family. <\/p>\n

Jovic only has to wait until August 27 for Serbia’s opener against Estonia in what will be his first EuroBasket. <\/p>\n

“Everything is the same! I always feel the excitement. I live for these competitions. It’s the highlight of everyone’s career,” Jovic said.<\/p>\n

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Nikola Jovic’s first big stage was the FIBA World Cup 2023<\/p>\n

“Playing at big tournaments for the national team, whether it’s EuroBasket, (FIBA Basketball) World Cup or Olympics, it’s the same for me. Every competition is just as big for me. As always, we hope for the best result.”<\/p>\n

Jovic and co. head into EuroBasket hungry to finally win the first EuroBasket under the Serbia flag. There were eight EuroBasket crowns for Yugoslavia and Serbia & Montenegro. But Serbia’s best finish was runners-up in 2009 and 2017. <\/p>\n

Serbia will face Czechia, Estonia, hosts Latvia, Portugal and T\u00fcrkiye in Group A in Riga, starting the campaign against Estonia.<\/p>\n

Jovic played his first major tournament for Serbia in the Philippines at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023. He averaged 10.1 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.6 assists for a Serbia side that finished second. <\/p>\n

The 22-year-old had also played at the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2021 and appeared in two games in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 European Qualifiers. <\/p>\n

Last summer, Jovic experienced his first Olympics, playing five games at Paris 2024 and collecting 4.2 points and 1.8 rebounds for the bronze medallists. <\/p>\n

The Miami Heat forward actually went to France last summer with an injury. <\/p>\n

“How can I not be sorry. Sometimes I forget that I managed to get into the team although I had a broken foot. I came for the preparations with a boot. I took it off and practically played. The people from Miami didn’t like it at first, but I just couldn’t skip that competition,” Jovic remembered. <\/p>\n

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Nikola Jovic performed in Paris despite a foot injury<\/p>\n

Serbia fans can expect a top fit Jovic this time around.<\/p>\n

“Now I’m healthy, and that’s the most important thing for me. Everything else will fall into place. If nothing else, at least I know that I can respond to the challenges.”<\/p>\n

Jovic thanked Miami for once again allowing him to play for the national team. The Heat, he said, have traditionally allowed their players compete for their country – including Goran Dragic, who helped Slovenia win the 2017 EuroBasket over Serbia in the Final. <\/p>\n

“(The Heat) say that (Dragic) always came back better from the championships. It’s an honor and a pleasure for them to let me play for Serbia,” Jovic said.<\/p>\n

In addition to playing for his country, this summer’s EuroBasket also gives Jovic a chance to catch up with his Serbian brothers, who stay in contact throughout the club season.<\/p>\n

“At the beginning of the season, we somehow don’t talk about it, we try to avoid it. Bogdan Bogdanovic is the one who calls and asks about the national team the most,” Jovic said. <\/p>\n

“He even called me before Manila, when I wasn’t even in the mix for the national team, to ask me if I would come (to the FIBA World Cup 2023). How can I explain to him that I simply can’t refuse Serbia? We talk to each other all the time and we feel like a big family.”<\/p>\n

A big family coming back together again.<\/p>\n

FIBA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The official EuroBasket app Download Now BELGRADE (Serbia) – The FIBA EuroBasket 2025 is just more than a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18260,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-18259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18259\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}