ALL-STAR GAME: TEAM GIANNIS VS. TEAM LEBRON

February 19, 2023

Nikola Jokic

Team LeBron

Press Conference

Team Giannis - 184, Team LeBron - 175

Q. Nikola, what happened on that draft? Did you walk on to Team LeBron?

NIKOLA JOKIC: I thought I was last. I just stood up because I thought I was last. And I felt bad, especially now that we lost.

Q. Everything worked out.

NIKOLA JOKIC: You see? I just feel bad. I thought that I was last, and I just stood up because I didn't see Lauri. My bad.

Q. You had a couple of alley-oops thrown to you by Kyrie, but you didn't quite have the vertical on it. What happened with those?

NIKOLA JOKIC: The first one he didn't pass it right. Second one, too, he didn't pass it -- actually, the second one was good off the backboard. I just lost it.

I thought I had it, but seems like I didn't have it.

Q. Were you a bit surprised to going No. 7 in the draft?

NIKOLA JOKIC: No, I would not draft myself either. I'm not meant for this game (smiling).

Q. Nikola, happy birthday.

NIKOLA JOKIC: Thank you.

Q. I'm curious what the rest of the birthday plans look like.

NIKOLA JOKIC: Nothing. We're just going to go home to Denver, me and my family. I just hopefully have a couple of days off. Actually, one day off. I'm going to talk to Coach. It's going to be two maybe.

Q. What's it like playing with Joel, having a chance to play with another dominant big like that, especially with you two being 1 and 2 in the MVP race seemingly all the time?

NIKOLA JOKIC: I think it's fun. I think we could play together. He needs to play the four, of course, because he can defend a little bit more than I.

I love to play with a big man who is really dominant, so I think it could work in the future.

Q. Nikola, you guys are five games up with 25 games to play or something, and it feels like everybody is talking about all the other teams except the Nuggets. Do you guys kind of embrace that even with the start you guys have been on, how good you guys have been all year? Do you enjoy the fact that it seems like all the attention still tends to go elsewhere?

NIKOLA JOKIC: We like it. We don't need it. We know what we're doing. We know what we're trying to do. We believe in the basketball system that we have built over the years, so it works.

It's still working. Nothing can affect us from outside. We are thinking about ourselves and just how to get better.

Q. I don't know how you remember that time when Barca didn't want to sign you? I don't know how --

NIKOLA JOKIC: It's probably the best worst game in my life. It was a long time ago. I didn't have a really good game. Worst game ever, in Barcelona. How the story was told to me, just kind of stand by, just waited a little bit -- waited a little bit because I was 18, 19. I didn't even know how old I am. So they just waited a couple more months, and then the Denver Nuggets show up. Now I'm here.

Q. Would you like to play there (off microphone)?

NIKOLA JOKIC: I'm not sure that I like to go back to Europe to play. I like it here (laughing).