Spray-painted yellow, orange, and red murals line the cracked gray cement walls of a staffing agency building about two miles from downtown Denver. The nearly six-foot-tall mural depicts an expressionless Nikola Jokic next to an emotive Jamal Murray, her eyes squinting and her squinting as if brandishing her bow and arrow. arms outstretched.
38-year-old artist Thomas Evans recently completed a mural of two Denver Nuggets stars as the team geared up for the start of the NBA Finals. On Thursday afternoon, just hours before Game 1 of the Championship Series against the Miami Heat, Damian Lucero blasted his own song “It’s Nuthin” while recording a rap music video in front of the mural. was flowing. Lucero, 21, is called Dame$ (not to be confused with Dame Dorla, the rap name for Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard), pronounced “Dame.” He said the mural inspired him and some collaborators to write the song as a tribute to Jokic.
He said some of his favorite lines.
“Clean up, yes, it’s all me.
I had to smoke him like blowing wood.
Dub four months, then pop the ring.
No joke about triple dubs, he’s the new king. “
The old king, at least for those who like to describe him that way, is LeBron James, whose Los Angeles Lakers were swept by the Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals. James is the NBA’s biggest star, with four championship rings, numerous sponsorship deals and a constant presence on social media and television. Jokic has none of that.
“I see a lot of myself in him,” said Evans, also from Ditour.
“I’m in the studio all day working on artwork, and I’m not as straight forward as other artists,” he said. “I don’t want to be in front of the camera all the time. I don’t necessarily want to be in a magazine. I really want to do my work and tell a story for itself.”
In the NBA, stars often assume or imbue the city with their own identity. Magic Johnson loves luxury and glamour, so it was a perfect fit for Los Angeles. James embraced celebrity and so did he. Patrick Ewing’s physicality screamed New York City. Jokic, a 28-year-old Serb, may be the best player in the NBA, but he’s a bit of a mystery, much like Tim Duncan in San Antonio. People who live here say it’s a perfect fit for Denver and Colorado.
“He’s an understated talent, not a spotlight seeker, a team player, or a down-to-earth person,” said Senator Michael Bennett of the Colorado Democratic Party. “Both Denver and Colorado, I think we think of ourselves as down-to-earth.”
Thursday, Bennett nuggets warm up jersey In Washington, D.C., en route to the debt ceiling vote.
A star player like Jokic, a two-time MVP, can single-handedly inspire a city. Denver Mayor Michael B. Hancock predicted the Nuggets would dominate the playoffs this year. could bring in $25 million economic boost.
Yet Jokic has little cultural footprint off the court, gaining local attention as a jockey for the Nuggets for the NHL’s Avalanche and the MLB’s Rockies (both overshadowed by the NFL’s Broncos). But this ambiguity is clearly of his own design. Talking about stardom seems boring to him. Jokic told reporters Wednesday when he was asked if he was the best player on the Nuggets. I’m fine with that. “
Murray, nicknamed the Blue Arrow for his basketball shooting skills, seems more comfortable in the spotlight than Jokic. He is personable, expressive, and active on social media. If Jokic isn’t Denver’s best player, Murray is arguably the best. He has promoted at least 10 brands over the past year, according to sponsor United, but Jokic has only two. It’s rare for a top player like Jokic to be so elusive off the court.
“I don’t know how much influence he actually has because he doesn’t show himself so much,” said Vic Lombardi, a Denver sports talk radio host.
Jokic is seldom given interviews outside of the mandatory press conferences, where he gives mostly outspoken responses. He has a deal with Nike, but he doesn’t have a signature shoe. He doesn’t host a podcast and his politics are shrouded in mystery.he has appeared in several commercials in serbia. Jokic recently said basketball was “not the most important thing” in his life. probably never.
Andre Miller, who played for the Nuggets again in the early 2000s and a decade ago, said, “I think he’s going to have more connections just because it’s needed when you’re a player at that level.” He added: “I think he thinks, I’m just a basketball player. Now we can get rid of everything that clutters up.”
“His job is to play basketball, not to serve people’s needs,” said Nuggets forward Jeff Green.“
Another teammate, Vlatko Kankar, laughed when asked about Jokic as a public figure.
“When you’re a star at that level, it’s very difficult to please everyone,” he said. “He seems to want to sign autographs, shake hands, take pictures with everyone. is.”
Colorado Governor Jared Polis called Jokic “a rare figure in the modern age of sports.” He said that people in Colorado “increase in admiration of him for being unobtrusive off the court, like other so-called stars, in basketball and in other sports.”
Colorado Democratic Senator John Hickenlooper said Jokic was like “a big bear that could do ballet.”
“And that’s great for Colorado because we used to be a cow town and a mining town,” Hickenlooper said. “We have honest, hardworking roots. Denver is pretty athletic right now, and I don’t know if we’re quite at ballet yet, but we’re getting there.”
White NBA stars are often portrayed in positive terms that don’t often apply to black players, such as being gritty and selfish. Still, discussions with those who know and follow Jokic suggest his reputation as an aspiring passer is well-deserved. Jokic said he would rather pass than score.
His approach to stardom creates challenges for the NBA, which is constantly looking to expand its reach. But leagues don’t always help. The Nuggets didn’t make many appearances on national television during the regular season despite winning his MVP twice. some talented team.
Additionally, some Colorado residents have been unable to attend Nuggets games for the past four years due to a dispute over transportation costs between regional sports networks Altitude and Comcast. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said on Thursday that it was a “horrible situation.”
“I’m really sorry,” said Mayor Hancock.
“This robs these great young players of the notoriety they deserve, especially in a season where they have done phenomenal things,” he said.
Stan Kroenke, owner of the Nuggets and Avalanche, also owns Altitude. “We asked both sides to find a solution,” said Governor Polis.
The NBA is popular in Jokic’s home country of Serbia. US Ambassador to Serbia Christopher R. Hill said that when he’s at his home in the offseason, he lives as isolated as he does in Denver. But Jokic is someone “everyone is talking about right now,” he said.
“Games are often at 2 a.m.,” said Hill, who lived in Denver for 10 years before arriving in 2020. It’s unbelievable. Talk to someone from the Serbian government and they’ll start yawning: ‘Sorry, I was watching Jokic last night. 』
Serbian journalists Nenad Kostic and Edin Avdić, who have covered Jokic since he was a teenager, now consider him a friend. They went to Denver to cover him in the finals and had dinner with him the night before Game 1. They said celebrities made him uncomfortable.
“It’s not about the money,” Avdic said. “It’s not about fame. I think it’s too much trouble for him. No, it’s too much of a burden for him.”
Kostić said Belgrade, Serbia’s big city with its nightlife, is often home to famous Serbian athletes, even if Jokić is from a small town.
“Nicola is not that kind of person,” Kostich said. “He likes to spend his days in Sombor, the small town where he was born, where everyone knows him and leaves him alone.”
Twenty years ago, the Nuggets drafted Carmelo Anthony, who is almost the exact opposite of Jokic. He’s been the star of more traditional franchises, doing commercials, selling jerseys and launching signature shoes. While still a student at Syracuse University, he made waves in popular culture with his style and his confidence. He spent more than seven seasons in Denver and happened to wear the number 15 jersey Jokic currently wears.
Kiki Vandeweghe, the Nuggets executive who drafted Anthony, said both players’ approaches to stardom worked well for the franchise from a business perspective because of how well they performed on the court. He said Jokic “makes the team better”.
“He comes with it every night,” said Vandeweghe, who played for the Nuggets in the 1980s. “He embodies the charm of the city in many ways, and his team is winning. And it’s a successful franchise.”
Evans, a muralist who doesn’t normally paint celebrities, said he found Jokic’s growing relevance to be of artistic value. He completed Jokic’s first mural in Denver’s Five Points neighborhood in February. He added Murray to the second, but that one ended just before the NBA Finals.
Nuggets fan Caroline Simonson, 22, who lives in Boulder, said she paid $810 to attend Thursday’s game and sit in the stands. She said Jokic’s public profile “probably limits his connection to NBA fans across the country, but it doesn’t limit him to just the city of Denver.”
“We’re proud. We know what Colorado is,” she said. “We know what’s here, even if others don’t know its value. It’s special to us. Sometimes we want to keep it to ourselves.” Sometimes I think, we can keep Jokic to ourselves.”