Sombor (Serbia) (AFP)

At the foot of the mural that represents him, Nikola Jokic contemplates his first field and his school Sombor: the giant plump who was lying on the class photos not to hide his comrades became a basketball superstar.

"Very small, his pacifier in his mouth, he watched his brothers play, without moving, without making the slightest noise, sitting on my lap," remembers AFP in front of the primary school Dositej Obradovic, his father Branislav Jokic, 61 years old, retired agricultural engineer.

Child of a basketball Serbia, 24-year-old Nikola Jokic was born nearby, in the outskirts of this peaceful town of 40,000 inhabitants, close to the Hungarian border, in the vast agricultural plain of Vojvodina (north of the country) . Last but not least, he arrived a decade after his two brothers.

The centerpiece of the Denver Nuggets (NBA), the pivot (2.13 m, 113 kg) will be a pillar of an ambitious Serbian team that will target the podium at the World Cup in China from August 31 to September 15.

His contract of nearly $ 150 million over five years makes the Nuggets pivot the highest paid Serbian player in history, well above the legendary Vlade Divac and Predrag Stojakovic. Its popularity is equal to that of the icon of Serbian sport, the N.1 of the world tennis Novak Djokovic.

Like his father, Jokic's teachers quickly noticed his fascination with the orange balloon. And his address, despite a somewhat heavy, plump physique. "He was the biggest, the biggest and the best of the team" at his school, sums up his father.

- Gymnast despite himself -

"He loved the ball more than anything, but gymnastics and athletics, he did not love ... I always had to push him to do it," recalls Robert Katona, 50, his first teacher of education physical.

In charge of basketball, his colleague Katarina Naumov, 54, was his first coach. "From the beginning you could see that he had skillful hands and an exceptional playing experience," she says. "And especially a tendency to look for the decisive pass, he liked that more than mark," continues Robert Katona.

His current stats come from afar: in addition to the 10.8 average rebounds per game this season with the Denver Nuggets, he's posting some amazing statistics (7.3 assists) and shoot (20.1 points). for a pivot (8.4 assists and 25.1 points in play-offs). "A leader in the body of a pivot", summarizes a Serbian sports journalist during a show on Jokic.

He is among the five NBA players to have passed the 1,000 assists before his 24th birthday, a club where he rubs shoulders with Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Kevin Durant.

Her 43-year-old English teacher Gordana Ralevic praises the "little" Jokic: "Strangely enough, physical education was the subject with which he had the most to fight, for the rest all his notes were excellent. " "On the class pictures, Nikola was always lying in front of his classmates, because already at the time he was tall," she recalls.

- In pursuit of her dreams -

It was in this same school that he met the one who is still his companion, Natalija, who flirted with a career as a professional volleyball player. "They knew each other at school and then in high school, their story started very early," recalls Katarina Naumov, who became a close friend of the family.

Jokic returns regularly to Sombor and invariably passes on the old paved ground "Les Fosses" where he makes some shots and lends himself to the game of the photo shoot with the children.

He also devotes himself to his other great passion, the horses. "It's from me that he inherited that," says Branislav Jokic, "when he was young, he was going to clean the stables before going to school."

The family owns a small stable not far from the local racetrack and regularly participates in the trotting races. Nikola periodically enjoys a few laps "but only in training, he can not afford to compete," says Branislav.

The father shows a brown horse: "It's + Dreamcatcher +, the first horse Nikola bought, survived a serious tick bite and returned to competition, pursuing his dreams. A bit like Nikola when he went to play in the United States. "

© 2019 AFP