By Johnny Askounis/ [email protected]
Serbia is likely to feature Nikola Jovic of the Miami Heat in the EuroBasket 2025.
The 21-year-old forward is eager to add to his experience with the senior national team of his country in major tournaments, after playing in the Olympic Games 2024 and the FIBA World Cup 2023 over the two previous summers.
Following the end of his 2024-25 journey with the Heat, Jovic confirmed his plan for the upcoming offseason in an exit interview on Wednesday.
“I did not have enough time last year. I feel like I started really good, until I broke my foot in the middle of the summer,” he went into the additional room for individual improvement before the 2025-26 NBA Regular Season, “I didn’t practice until the Olympics. At that moment, I wasn’t even ready for the Olympics. Basically, the last two summers, I didn’t really have any time to work on anything. This summer, I hope I stay healthy and everything goes good until the training camp for the national team, which is probably at the end of July. So, I have a solid three months to work on some things.”
“For me, the national team is one of the most important things. Of course, it depends on whether the coaches want me to. I always want to play, but if they, for some reason, insist for me to not play, I’ll have a talk. But I feel like they want me to play, and I feel like I always come back better when I play. Also, it prepares me for the next season,” he continued, replying to a question about potentially considering skipping this summer’s EuroBasket, “I really never had thoughts about skipping.”
In the preliminary stage, Serbia will compete in Riga, facing Estonia, Portugal, Latvia, Czechia, and Turkiye between August 27 and September 3. The knockout stage will also be played in the Latvian capital, lasting from September 6 to 14.
“It means everything for us,” Jovic talked about the importance of suiting up for Serbia, “It means everything for me. That’s why I started playing basketball, because of the national team. To represent your country, it’s everything. It’s a different feeling. You feel like you have your whole country behind you and everybody’s watching, and everybody wants you to succeed.”