Jokic Brothers: The Story Of Strahinja And Nemanja Jokic

If you’ve ever seen a game by the Denver Nuggets and noticed two very large and tattooed men sitting close to the court with an intimidating look, always ready to defend their family no matter what, then you already know who the Jokic brothers are. Strahinja and Nemanja Jokic are the older brothers of three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic and throughout the years, have become pretty famous on their own, serving as both hype men and unofficial bodyguards for their younger brother.

This is their entire story, in short form – who they are, what they were doing before the Denver Nuggets, which fights made them get famous, and how much money they are actually making.

Quick Facts About The Jokic Brothers:

Detail	Information
Names	Strahinja Jokic and Nemanja Jokic
Notable sibling:	Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets center and three-time MVP
Parents	Branislav Jokic and Nikolina Jokic
Place of birth	Sombor, Serbia
Age difference between Strahinja and Nikola:	Around 13 years
Age difference between Nemanja and Nikola:	Around 11 years
Strahinja’s career	Former professional basketball player in Europe, mixed martial arts
Nemanja’s career	Former college basketball player in America, turned into MMA fighter
Recognized as:	Protectors and hype men to Nikola on the courts
Nationality	Serbian

The Place Where The Jokic Brothers Were Raised:

The three Jokic brothers spent their childhood together in a small two-bedroom apartment in the Serbian town of Sombor, located near the Hungarian border in the northwest of the country. There were no empty corners here. Nikola has described their childhood apartment as being always overcrowded, as his mother, father, two elder brothers, grandma, and cousins were constantly coming and leaving. The times were hard and money was not enough, but the family atmosphere was excellent, and that is the core explanation of the fact why the three Jokics are such loyal protectors of each other nowadays.

Difficult Childhood Times Of The Jokic Family:

In 1999, due to the Kosovo War and NATO bombings in the territory of the former Yugoslavia, there were moments of power cut in Sombor where the Jokic brothers were growing up. It was a period of dark days in the life of the whole family, and such moments unite brothers forever.

Why Their Names Were Different Then:

Since Strahinja is 13 years older and Nemanja is 11 years older than Nikola Jokic, the two brothers were more or less like second dads for the youngest one. They were also the ones who introduced Nikola into basketball by dragging him to join their games even when he did not want to.

About Their Parents, Branislav And Nikolina Jokic:

The boys are the sons of the couple Branislav and Nikolina Jokic. Branislav was born and raised in Sombor where he works as an agricultural engineer and has a small horse stable. Young Nikola actually spent more time riding horses than practicing basketball when he was younger. His parents urged him to play basketball once he began growing fast. The family remains humble despite all successes, and Nikola has declared many times that he is going to move back to Serbia after the end of his career.

Strahinja Jokic, The Eldest And The Most Fearsome One:

Strahinja is the oldest of the three brothers and is definitely the second most famous one after Nikola. He was a professional basketball player in Serbia until he quit it and turned to helping his younger brother to build his career. Moreover, Strahinja has experience in mixed martial arts (MMA), and that explains his fearsome nature.

Strahinja is the one whom people can see now at Nuggets’ games. He wears a jersey of Nikola and watches the audience more often than the game itself, being always ready to confront those who might disrespect his family. Fans call Strahinja and Nemanja the scariest siblings in the NBA, and nobody seems to be interested in checking whether it is true.

Nemanja Jokic, The Middle Brother Who Played In America:

The middle brother Nemanja is the one who chose the most interesting way before the NBA. He came to the US and played college basketball for the University of Detroit Mercy and then transferred to Long Island University (LIU C.W. Post campus). Nemanja even had a professional stint with the Scranton and Wilkes-Barre Steamers and entered the 2010 NBA Draft but was not chosen there.

Afterwards, he became a professional MMA fighter making his debut in 2018. Nemanja has only small but flawless record: he wins his fights by knockout, and the toughness of this family is not the bluff. Once Nikola Jokic was about ten years old, Nemanja left Sombor and headed to the US to realize his basketball dream. In a way, he blazed the path of his little brother to NBA stardom.

That Legendary Knife Story:

No article about the Jokic brothers is complete without the childhood story which is told by Nikola himself, and it perfectly shows the Jokic family’s sense of humor. According to Nikola, when he once refused to climb a tree as he was told to do by his brother Strahinja, the punishment of the latter was to hold down his arms and throw knives all around his head. Nikola described it simply as “a little crazy” with a shrug.

It sounds terrible, but the brothers tell it with love and laughs. That is the rough but funny relationship which obviously made Nikola tougher, and he thanks his brothers for that constantly as well as for shaping him as a competitor.

Controversies Of The Jokic Brothers, Told Straight:

Honesty is a must here, since there are some real controversies of the Jokic brothers, particularly of Strahinja, which are worth describing accurately rather than exaggerating.

The most public controversy of the brothers occurred in April 2024. After the game against the Los Angeles Lakers, a video surfaced showing Strahinja, dressed in a jersey of Nikola (number 15), climbing over the seats and hitting a fan in the face. Denver Police investigated the incident, and Strahinja was cited and charged with misdemeanor assault.

He plead not guilty in January 2025, and he claims that he was protecting an older man whom he knows from harassment. Having experienced previous controversies, the brothers reportedly got their own private suite at the home games in order to avoid any conflicts with the audience.

Moreover, Strahinja was involved in a more serious controversial situation, namely the arrest connected with assault of a woman. This is a serious claim, and it is better to treat it as just that, an alleged incident which went through the judicial process rather than to exaggerate it. It is reasonable to mention only that the events have been covered by mainstream media, and nothing else.

None of the above-mentioned incidents is connected to Nikola himself, who is known as a peaceful and mild person. However, a complete description of his brothers should necessarily contain the fact that their fierce protectiveness has, at times, exceeded limits.

How Rich Are The Jokic Brothers?

It is impossible to give exact reliable data on the net worth of Strahinja and Nemanja Jokic. There are no publicly available figures of any kind. All the numbers that can be found online are just guesses. Neither brother has a public career with disclosed earnings. What can be realistically claimed is that they have left their ways to be with their brother and support him in his career, and they clearly share his comfortable lifestyle due to his huge NBA contract.

Their brother is one of the best paid players in basketball, and the family operates as a unit, but to assign exact net worth of any of the brothers is just guessing, and that is not the reasonable approach.

Their Social Media Presence:

It is safe to say that the Jokic brothers are not the fans of social networks and that fits their humble and private nature. People are much more likely to see the brothers on fan-shot videos at Nuggets games than on their own posts. Nikola Jokic is known as a very private person who practically does not use social media, and his brothers have the same habits. Fame is something that happens to them from the stands, not something that they chase in the Internet.

Fun Facts About The Jokic Brothers:

There are a few facts that make the Jokic brothers even more interesting: the three brothers used to live together in a three-bedroom apartment near Coors Field in Denver after Nikola was drafted, along with Nikola’s wife Natalija, in order to reduce his homesickness. It was the brothers who threw Nuggets coach Michael Malone in the air after the 2023 championship victory.

Despite their frightening appearance, those who know the brothers describe them as warm and family-friendly people whose toughness appears only when somebody close is under threat. In Serbian language, the term “brother” is used rather loosely, and Nikola has mentioned that some of his “brothers” in childhood were cousins in reality. That is how strong is the family relations between them.

Final Words:

The Jokic brothers prove that behind every peaceful superstar there are often noisy but devoted family members. Strahinja and Nemanja abandoned their careers in basketball to follow their brother across the ocean and have been standing with him all the way from his tiny Sombor apartment to three MVP trophies.

Their protectiveness has occasionally landed them in some problems, but that is the part of the honest story. The core of this story is that the three brothers from a Serbian town remain loyal to each other and do not allow the fame to change them in any way. If one wants to learn something about Nikola Jokic’s inner character, it is enough to look at those two brothers sitting courtside.

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