Nikola Jokic's Homecoming In Serbia After Winning Olympic Bronze Looks Like A Scene Straight Out Of A Movie

Published|Updated

Nikola Jokic and the Serbian national basketball team held a homecoming celebration in Belgrade after they were able to earn an Olympic bronze in Paris and the scene was absolutely absurd. If you were to tell me all 6.6 million people living in Serbia were in attendance, I would believe you based on video footage of the celebration.

Jokic, as expected, was a force to be reckoned with throughout the Summer Olympics as he led the entire tournament in points, rebounds, assists, and steals. For a big man such as Jokic to lead in both steals and assists when we're talking about the best basketball players on planet Earth competing against one another on the international stage is bonkers.

The Serbs had Team USA on the ropes during their semifinal matchup, and really should have pulled off the upset by being up double digits late, but ultimately fell 95-91 before taking care of Germany in the bronze medal match.

The country celebrated Jokic, the men's hoops team, and a fella named Novak Djokovic who knocked off Carlos Alcaraz to win gold, and they did so accordingly. 

Is this a group of people welcoming athletes back to their home country or a scene from Woodstock in 1969?

We've got hundreds of Serbian flags waving, an ambulance parked in the middle of the chaos so you know things are going to get rowdy, and full-on fires being started in the back of the crowd.

It's hard to fathom what the crowds would look like if the Serbians had won gold on the hardwood. We'll never be able to witness that scene because Team USA basketball exists, but it doesn't hurt to imagine what it would look like.

Jokic is enjoying his time off before returning back to Denver to prepare for the upcoming NBA season. Not only did he have a homecoming of all homecomings, but he's winning horse races as well.

Tags
Written by

Mark covers all sports at OutKick while keeping a close eye on the world of professional golf. He graduated from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga before earning his master's degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee. He somehow survived living in Knoxville despite ‘Rocky Top’ being his least favorite song ever written. Before joining OutKick, he wrote for various outlets including SB Nation, The Spun, and BroBible. Mark was also a writer for the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate in 2016 when the team won the World Series. He's still waiting for his championship ring to arrive. Follow him on Twitter @itismarkharris.