Miami Heat forward Nikola Jovic was one of 16 players to make the preliminary list for Team Serbia ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics, the Serbian national team announced Monday.
According to the English translation on the website, Svetislav Pešić, the Serbian national team head coach, put together the 16-man roster, which was deemed “a list.” Thus, there’s no word whether or not he will be making final roster cuts or not.
Regardless, Jovic’s inclusion shouldn’t come as a surprise to many.
He was one of the key contributors to the team’s Silver Medal finish in the 2023 FIBA World Cup. In eight games, he averaged 10.1 points on 56.6 percent shooting, including 42.3 percent from 3-point range (11-26) and 76.9 percent from the free-throw line (10-13). Jovic also hauled down three rebounds and dished out 2.6 assists across 23.9 minutes per contest.
Against South Sudan in the group stage, Jovic, 21, tallied 25 points on a perfect 9-of-9 shooting, including five 3-pointers. He added two rebounds and three assists in 27 minutes.
Team Serbia is headed by three-time MVP and one-time champion Nikola Jokic, who’s arguably the best player in the world. Other NBA players on their preliminary roster are Bogdan Bogdanovic, Vasilije Micic and Aleksej Pokusevski.
Team Serbia will be in the same group as Team USA, which will feature Heat center Bam Adebayo and head coach Erik Spoelstra, who will be an assistant under head coach Steve Kerr. Among those in the group will be South Sudan plus one team from the Olympic Qualifier in Puerto Rico (Mexico, Ivory Coast, Lithuania, Italy, Puerto Rico or Bahrain).
As expected, Heat forward Nikola Jovic is on Serbia’s preliminary Olympic roster for this summer in Paris. pic.twitter.com/2dodnaWtUa
— Anthony Chiang (@Anthony_Chiang) June 10, 2024
📢 Selektor Pešić odredio spisak kandidata za mušku “A” reprezentaciju 🇷🇸 Srbije na Olimpijskim igrama 🏀
🔗 https://t.co/HAueEswlAQ#TeamSerbia #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/MYLLmaKutp
— Košarkaški savez SRB (@KSSrbije) June 10, 2024
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This is a solid team, especially with Jokic playing.
Congratulations Niko! Hopefully, he comes out of this experience a better and more confident player.
Yup. These are always beneficial to a player like Niko.
Definitely. It will hone his skills, give him more reps and confidence, and prepare him for summer league, and the season.