After a career-best junior season in the NBA, Nikola Jovic has earned himself a lucrative pay raise.
The forward has reportedly agreed to a four-year, $62.4 million rookie-scale contract extension with the Miami Heat, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported on Wednesday.
Jovic’s new deal comes after the 21-year-old averaged career-highs in average points (10.7), assists (2.8), minutes (25.1) and true shooting percentage (59.5) in his third NBA season.
His 2024-25 campaign was cut short, however, as Jovic broke a bone in his right hand on Feb. 23, limiting him to just 46 regular-season appearances. He did return and play in all four of Miami’s playoff games against the Cleveland Cavaliers, averaging 9.5 points in 18.5 minutes per game, including a season-high 24-point effort in a series-clinching Game 4 loss.
The Serbian youngster has notably improved as a shooter throughout his 107 games in the pros, jumping up from sub-30 per cent as a rookie to now holding a 37.0 per cent mark for his career. In 2024-25, Jovic nailed a career-best 1.7 triples a game on 4.6 attempts.
Jovic’s extension also comes after a strong showing at EuroBasket over the summer. Over six games of FIBA competition, he averaged 12.8 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.2 assists on 60.0/52.4/92.3 per cent shooting splits. His best performance of the tournament came in Serbia’s Round of 16 loss to Finland, in which Jovic finished with 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting and four made triples to go with four rebounds and four assists.
Miami originally selected the six-foot-10 forward in the first round (27th overall) of the 2022 draft. Jovic is expected to take on an elevated role with the Heat this season, who enter their first full year post-Jimmy Butler and are already dealing with the absence of Tyler Herro, who’s recovering from ankle surgery.