NBA ALL-STAR MEDIA DAY

February 14, 2026

Nikola Jokic

Media Day Press Conference

Q. I live in Texas, and I want to get a horse. What horse should I get? Any good ideas?

NIKOLA JOKIC: The best one. That's a great idea. I don't know which one is the best one, so -- I don't know. The most expensive one probably. That's going to be the best one.

Q. I don't know how much you've gotten to watch this season, but Jaylen Brown has been in the MVP conversation. What have you made of his season and his candidacy alongside you and some others?

NIKOLA JOKIC: I mean, I think of course he doesn't have his partner in crime, and he's still proving that he can lead the team. He's playing at a high level, scoring the ball. He's such good defensive player, too. So playing on both sides of the floor.

Like I said, I think the versatility of him that he can play on both sides of the court and still score and still be dominant and still be top three, I think they are top 3 in the East. So you know, he's a really good player.

Q. [Question from DeMarcus Cousins] I got a hypothetical for you. What's up, my brother? If you can win MVP every year or have all of your horses win their race every year --

NIKOLA JOKIC: All the horses. I only have three, so I'm fine.

Q. If all three horses could win every year, which route?

NIKOLA JOKIC: All three horses winning races. Good to see you, brother. Good to see you, my friend.

Q. I would like you to pick your Mount Rushmore of international players all time in the NBA?

NIKOLA JOKIC: All-time international players in the NBA. Dirk. Oh, my God, wait. International? Who is international? Dirk. I'm going to put Manu Ginobili. Giannis. I don't know who is older. All the international players. Hakeem (Olajuwon) is international or no? Hakeem.

Actually I'm not going to put Giannis. So it's Dirk, Manu, Hakeem. I'm missing somebody obviously.

Q. You.

NIKOLA JOKIC: After -- maybe after career. Tony Parker. That's a good guess. A couple of championships. Yeah, Finals MVP. I'm going to put him too. Pau Gasol. Pau Gasol. Those are five. There you go. You put me in a spot, and I didn't respond.

Q. My question is looking back at your life as a teen, what advice would you give teens growing up nowadays?

NIKOLA JOKIC: Have fun and do whatever it feels like you're doing in that moment. I think if you want to ride a bike, ride a bike. If you want to jump off a cliff in the water, jump off a cliff. Just have fun. Try, try everything.

Q. With the new NBA All-Star format, does this give you a little bit more fire to compete out there, or do you think it's going to feel like the previous years? Is there a little something more to represent now?

NIKOLA JOKIC: I think we're going to see tomorrow. For me, I'm going to play like I played every year. So I think -- I think we don't -- how to say this. I'm going to play how I play every year. I'm not sure that it is going to bring another fire to me, no, because I play every game same. So to me, not.

Q. What do you see as this format as the most competitive thing that you are going to see between the USA versus the World teams as far as the way they break it down between you, how you're playing now, compared to showcasing the international talent that you are and your other brothers who are international talent compared to the U.S. talent?

NIKOLA JOKIC: I think we have it kind of different. We are going to have OGs, maybe they're going to play the most. They're going to try to prove they can still be in this league. They are really good players. Probably all of them are Hall of Famers.

I think it will be competitive in some way. I think Europeans are going to probably pass the ball a lot and have fun out there. OGs is probably going to win it, and the third team is probably going to dunk the most times.

Q. LeBron James is going to play in his 22nd All-Star Game this year. You've talked kind of about how you don't have any real interest in pushing yourself into your 40s as a player. I'm just curious, though, as someone who competes against him, what is it about his longevity that, I don't know, you admire most? What do you notice when you see that player doing what he's doing this late in his career?

NIKOLA JOKIC: I mean, just you can see how many players cannot stay healthy and cannot be in the league for such a long time. I think being in this league for so long and I'm going to say producing the numbers, he's still one of the best players in the league, even in this stage of his career. He's still making a change on the floor when he gets in and making advantage.

I think it's impressive to see that someone is doing that for 22 years. We have some players who are, like, 19, 20 and still they're in the league. It's impressive. Definitely we all should admire that, how good.

I think maybe we don't see that right now, but after when he stops playing, I think we're going to admire it even more.