Is Nikola Jokic Married?

The Short Answer: Yes, Married to Natalija Mačešić

Yes — Nikola Jokic is married. He and Natalija Mačešić married on October 24, 2020, in Sombor, Serbia — their shared hometown — in a private ceremony. Jokic, born February 19, 1995, was 25. Video from the wedding showed the famously low-key superstar dancing and singing — a rare unguarded moment for the NBA's most private MVP.

Natalija — a former volleyball player (setter at Seminole State College in Oklahoma) who earned a psychology degree from Metropolitan State University — is, by many accounts, the reason Jokic came to America at all. She moved to the US in 2013 to play volleyball; when the Nuggets drafted Jokic in 2014, she was already stateside, and her presence helped convince him to make the leap.

As of October 2026, the Jokics live in Denver with two children, and Natalija — who keeps a minimal social media presence — remains the grounding force behind the most unassuming superstar in sports.

High-School Sweethearts from Sombor

Nikola and Natalija are both from Sombor, Serbia — a small northwestern city of about 50,000 that Jokic has described to Slam as "like a family." They attended high school together and started dating in 2013, when Jokic was still playing youth basketball in Serbia and Natalija was pursuing volleyball.

Their paths to America diverged, then converged. Natalija moved to the United States in 2013 to play volleyball at Seminole State College in Oklahoma (two seasons as a setter). Jokic was drafted by Denver in 2014 — famously during a Taco Bell commercial — and joined the Nuggets in 2015. Natalija left Oklahoma for Denver, enrolling at Metropolitan State University of Denver and graduating in 2018. The couple moved in with Jokic's older brothers in a three-bedroom Denver apartment: "My brothers came with me, and my girlfriend came with me, so we tried to make our home here," Jokic later said.

They got engaged in January 2020. The wedding was originally scheduled for June 2020 but was postponed when the NBA season moved to the Orlando bubble amid COVID-19 — and when Jokic himself tested positive for the virus that June. They married that October, days after the Lakers eliminated Denver in the bubble playoffs.

The 2020 Sombor Wedding

The Jokic wedding — October 24, 2020, Sombor, Serbia — was private and family-centered, a homecoming as much as a ceremony. Nuggets reporter Katy Winge shared video of the newlyweds' first dance; Natalija later called it her "favorite party of all time" on social media.

The timing tells the story: married in the immediate aftermath of the bubble playoffs, in the hometown they both left and to which Jokic returns every summer. For a player who spends his offseasons in Sombor — famously preferring his horses and family to celebrity — marrying there was the only choice that made sense.

Nikola and Natalija Jokic: Relationship Timeline

As of October 2026, the couple has been together for 13 years and married for six — the entire span of Jokic's NBA career.

Two Kids: Ognjena (2021) and Ignjat (2024)

The Jokic children: Ognjena (daughter, September 2021) and Ignjat (son, November 2024). Jokic announced the first pregnancy with typical understatement — "Probably the highlight is we have a baby coming. That's probably the highlight of my season, of my life" — while declining to reveal the gender amid an ongoing "debate between mom and dad over the baby's name."

Jokic has been candid about the difficulty of balancing fatherhood with the NBA's travel: "I play 100 games away; I'm not home for 100 days. When I come home, Ognjena is different. Literally in five days, she changes." The family attends games together when possible, but the Jokics — famously private, with Nikola entirely off social media — keep their children out of the spotlight.

Natalija's psychology background and steady presence are widely credited with keeping Jokic grounded through three MVPs and a championship — the quiet architecture behind the quiet superstar.

The Most Private MVP: Jokic in 2026

As of October 2026, Nikola Jokic — 31, 3-time MVP (2021, 2022, 2024), 2023 champion and Finals MVP, 7-time All-Star — remains the NBA's most accomplished — and most reluctant — superstar. He has no social media, gives the league's funniest deadpan interviews, and spends summers in Sombor with his horses. The marriage is of a piece: high-school sweetheart, hometown wedding, private family.

Natalija's role in the story is foundational, not decorative. She was in America before he was; she built a life in Denver while he was still in Serbia; she earned her degree while he earned his MVPs. The 2020 Sombor wedding — postponed by a pandemic, celebrated with a dance video — formalized a partnership that had already survived a transatlantic move, a pandemic, and the weirdest fame in sports.

For "is Nikola Jokic married": yes — married to Natalija Mačešić since October 24, 2020, together since 2013, with two children and a marriage as unassuming as the man himself. As of October 2026, the Joker's best assist remains the one that brought him to Denver: his wife. (The photo above shows Jokic with the Nuggets — the job; Sombor is home.)

Sombor Values: The Jokic Family Philosophy

The Jokic marriage is built on Sombor values — the small-city Serbian ethos that Jokic has described as "like a family." Both Nikola and Natalija return to Sombor every summer, where Jokic tends his horses and the family reconnects with roots. It's a deliberate choice: the NBA's most accomplished player spends his offseasons not in Miami or Los Angeles, but in a Serbian town of 50,000.

Natalija's psychology degree — earned from Metropolitan State University of Denver in 2018, while Jokic was becoming an MVP — reflects a parallel ambition. She didn't pause her education for his career; she completed it alongside his rise. Her background in psychology and her own athletic career (volleyball setter) give her a unique understanding of the pressures Jokic faces.

As of October 2026, the Jokics — together 13 years, married six, with two children, living in Denver but rooted in Sombor — represent a different model of sports marriage: not the power couple, not the brand, but the partnership. No social media, no reality shows, no drama. Just two people from the same small Serbian city who built a life together — one MVP at a time.

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