Jan 12, 2025; Dallas, Texas, USA; Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic (left) talks with Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic (right) after the game at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Nikola Jokic, Luka Doncic Matchup on Thursday Gets Strong Prediction

Originally posted on Denver Nuggets on SI
By Will Despart | Last updated Aug 18, 2025 3:41 PM ET

With the prestigious EuroBasket Championships quickly approaching at the end of the month, the participating national teams have already begun competing in exhibition matches to prepare for the tournament in a few weeks.

The 2025 EuroBasket draw features perhaps the deepest pool of NBA talent of any previous edition of the tournament, arguably improving on a field that included three active first-team All-NBA members with Luka Doncic (Slovenia), Nikola Jokic (Serbia), and Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece).

Among those aforementioned exhibition games is a highly-anticipated matchup between Nikola Jokic and Slovenia against Nikola Jokic and Serbia. Slovenia and Serbia are two countries known to have some of the most passionate basketball fans on the planet, so much so that one Serbian executive believes there isn't a venue big enough to satisfy the true ticket demand.

President of the Serbian Basketball Federation says that Nikola Jokic vs Luka Doncic would sell 100,000 tickets if it was possible pic.twitter.com/YNBDT087E5
— BasketNews (@BasketNews_com) August 16, 2025

“There are more tickets, of course, but it has to be done very carefully," Nebojsa Covic said. "Because if we had the opportunity to sell 100,000, we would sell 100,000 tickets.'

The game is scheduled to be played this Thursday at the 18,356-person capacity Belgrade Arena in the Serbian capital. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT in the United States, with the game beginning at 8 p.m. local time in Belgrade.

Not The First Time

Jokic and Doncic previously met on the international stage before the 2022 EuroBasket Tournament, competing in a similar exhibition game that took place on Doncic's home turf in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Doncic and company got the better of Jokic and his Serbian counterparts that night, winning an entertaining contest 97-92 with Serbian tennis legend Novak Djokovic in attendance.

Takole je @KlemenPrepelic @DjokerNole ob polčasu "pospremil" iz dvorane. pic.twitter.com/DfOc5vQD3p
— Sportklub Slovenija (@Sport_Klub_Slo) August 17, 2022

Doncic led Slovenia with 34 points, nine assists and nine rebounds in that 2022 victory, while Jokic tallied 26 points, 12 rebounds and six assists in Serbia's losing effort. While the two NBA superstars shined, it was former Nuggets center Vlatko Cancar who hit what ended up being the game-winning triple for Slovenia with under two minutes remaining.

Jokic and Doncic first meeting during the 2025-26 NBA season won't take place until January 20, when Doncic's Los Angeles Lakers will travel to Denver to take on the Nuggets in a game that will be nationally televised on NBC and streamed live on Peacock.

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

Tip-off for that contest is set for 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT on that Tuesday night, although that time could obviously be subject to a potential change sometime within the next three months.

This article first appeared on Denver Nuggets on SI and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: