According to a source from outside Serbia, one of the top international basketball teams, Nikola Jokic won’t be participating in the 2018 FIBA World Cup.

Jokic reportedly plans to recuperate in August and September, when the FIBA World Cup will be played in the Philippines, Japan, and Indonesia. Jokic led his Denver Nuggets to their first NBA championship in June. Additionally, Vasilije Micic, who is concentrating on making the move to the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder, and Nikola Kalinic from Barcelona will not be playing for Serbia.

Since the start of the 2018–19 NBA season, Jokic has participated in 436 regular season and postseason games, which is the most of any NBA player. And Jokic, a married father of a little daughter who will be 2 this September, has had a hectic offseason.

After defeating the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals less than a week prior, Jokic returned to his birthplace of Sombor on Sunday to indulge in his great passion for horse racing. Thousands of Jokic’s followers gathered at the local horse racing track where he was seeing his family’s horses compete in harness races in the typically sleepy 47,000-person town in northern Serbia. Many others wore t-shirts bearing Jokic’s image and bearing messages like “Be the Next Champion” and “Sombor, the Town of Champions.”

Jokic could be seen wearing the No. 15 Nuggets jersey on a billboard that said “Welcome Home MVP” and included galloping horses. Jokic was worried about making it home in time for Sunday’s races after the team’s victory parade in Denver on Thursday after winning the NBA championship. He jokingly said he would ask Josh Kroenke, the president of the Nuggets, to lend him the team plane so he could make it on time.

When Jokic first entered the arena, the crowd ҽxploded in cheers and clapping. Jokic was wearing a polo shirt with the name of his first horse, Dream Catcher, embroidered on it.

In advance of the FIBA World Cup, Canada Basketball released the lineup on Thursday night.

On Canada’s side, Murray will be joined by a number of NBA players, including Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder, an All-NBA pick.

The roster also included swingmen RJ Barrett of the New York Knicks and Nickeil Alexander-Walker of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Among the 18 players chosen were college basketball player of the year Zach Edey and Dillon Brooks, who was just traded from Memphis to Houston. The roster must be cut to 12 players for the World Cup, which is slated to run from August 25 to September 10.

The Philippines’ capital city of Manila will host the final stage after the group stage is held in the Philippines, Japan, and Indonesia.

In Jakarta, Indonesia, Group H opponents for Canada include France, Lebanon, and Latvia.

If Canada’s men place first or second among teams from the Americas, they will automatically qualify for the 2024 Olympics. Within the FIBA global rankings, Canada is presently ranked fifteenth.