Nikola Jokic flight path from under-the-radar second-round draft pick to two-time MVP is well-documented, complete with a Taco Bell commercial. But even when he was a youth player putting up gaudy numbers, major Serbian scouts were missing him.
Jokic’s agent, Misko Raznatovic, joined the All The Smoke podcast to discuss the star center now competing in the NBA Finals for his first championship. Raznatovic said he discovered Jokic by reading a newspaper and then signed him without actually watching him play.
At the time, Jokic was 17 years old and playing in a U-18 Serbian league. The newspaper excerpt caught Raznatovic’s attention – Jokic had 29 points and 26 rebounds, “if I’m not wrong,” Raznatovic said.
“I said ‘Wow,’ — Not more than that,” the agent said, explaining that he didn’t think a whole lot of it in the moment.
The following weekend he decided to go check that young player’s stats again.
In the podcast video, Raznatovic made a shocked, wide-eyed reaction as if he remembered his exact expression. There’s a good chance he did, to be honest. Jokic had 30 points and 15 rebounds, if Raznatovic remembers correctly.
Joker been putting up video game numbers since the beginning?.
His agent Misko Raznatovic explains how he discovered Jokić by reading a Serbian newspaper.#ATSCroatiaTakeover pic.twitter.com/nBTEoaYgEI
— SHOWTIME Basketball (@shobasketball) June 4, 2023
Raznatovic called his scout to ask about Jokic — “and it’s a silence. He didn’t know him.”
“That was the surprise of the year, having in mind that he knows all the kids,” Raznatovic recalled.
The agent instructed the scout to find out whether Jokic was putting up these numbers because he was big— or skilled and versatile. The scout called back a few minutes later, confirming that Jokic wasn’t simply stronger or older, but good.
“Very versatile, even a little overweight, sneaky but he’s talented.”
Raznatovic told the scout to reach out and sign him. It was unusual for the agent, who described himself as analytical and trusting in systems, but this time, he went with a gut feeling for a rather spontaneous signing.
“This is the first and last player in the 27-year-old history of the agency that we signed him without anybody seeing him,” Raznatovic said.
Watch the full clip above; it’s much more captivating than the written description. Listen to the All the Smoke podcast here.
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