Following Nikola Jokic’s third MVP victory in four years, a former teammate revealed an untold tale about the Serbian big man’s rookie campaign.

After spending four seasons in the NBA, Joffrey Lauvergne returned to play in Europe, where he continues to this day. He was a member of the Denver Nuggets team when Jokic made his NBA debut in the 2015–16 campaign.

“I remember one scene like it was yesterday, and it was almost 10 years ago. People from the club came to the practice and presented the guys they drafted. They only said a few sentences about Nikola, something like, ‘This is Nikola, we’ll try to help him improve his body, and we think that in the future he can help the club.’ 

Two months after those sentences, Nikola Jokic was the best player of the Denver Nuggets,” Lauverge recalls in an interview with Bojan Brezovac Mozzart Sports.

Lauverge was the one who assisted the Serbian center Jokic in getting around the nation both during and between games, as he was new to both the NBA and the United States. Jokic would go for drives with the French big man, and those were great times for talking.

Lauverge recounted a tale that left the whole squad in a state of shock.

“When you’re in the NBA, you always travel on a private plane, and the crew is always the same. We’re always greeted by the same people. Among them was a girl. I can’t describe to you how beautiful she was. Like from a video or a movie. Amazingly, I remember her after all these years,” Lauverge said. “Well, when you have a girl like that and a plane full of basketball players who are a bit unprofessional at the same time… you can imagine the scenes.”

“There wasn’t a player on the team at that time who didn’t approach her or try something to get her phone number. No one could conquer her. She was always unavailable,” Lauverge said.

“Nikola was also there, but in a completely different style. He was easy-going, [always] making some jokes. He was joking around. He had never even approached directly yet, but he was always joking. She obviously liked it because he was different. After one trip, we land in Denver and she approaches someone for the first time. She comes to Nikola and gives him a piece of paper with her phone number. The whole team was in awe,” Lauverge recalled.

Lauverge and Jokic drove together as usual after the excursion. At that point, Jokic questioned Lauverge on the phone number he had just been given by a girl who other Nuggets players were vying for.

“Nikola casually gets up from the plane and comes to me. We’d already established a habit for me to drive him from the airport. Several minutes of driving pass without a conversation, and he suddenly turns to me, ‘Zo, here’s the number, I definitely don’t need it. I have a girlfriend.’ Amazed, I replied that I didn’t want the number because she gave it to him. He just opened the car window and threw a note with a number on it away,” Lauverge said.

“This is Nikola Jokic, a true family man who is consistently composed. I’ll never forget that scene,” Lauverge said.

Jokic wed his lifelong partner, who was born in the same Serbian town of Sombor, Natalija. Together, they have a daughter.