DENVER (FIBA EuroBasket 2017) - Nikola Jokic was a revelation this past summer. At least that was true in international basketball.

In the NBA with the Denver Nuggets, he had already played to rave reviews. Coming off a promising rookie campaign in the world's toughest league, Jokic made his senior team bow with Serbia in 2016 and led his national side to the Rio de Janeiro Games with an MVP performance at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Belgrade.

After a slow start in Brazil, Jokic shook up the Carioca Arena 1 with a 25-point explosion against the United States and nearly led his team to an upset. The Americans held on for a 94-91 triumph.

Jokic is now back in Denver with the Nuggets but come next year, he'll get a taste of his first FIBA EuroBasket when Serbia play in Turkey. The 21-year-old has spoken to FIBA.com.

You grew up in Serbia, a country that has a great tradition of basketball. Who were your idols, the players that have inspired you the most?
The players that inspired me were my brothers because I was always looking at them playing. Of course guys who were playing for the national team, like Vlade Divac and the ones who went to the NBA and opened the way for the European players you know, they inspired me, too. I looked at my brothers, I was with them all the time and I just wanted to be like them.

Jokic had a terrific 2016 with Serbia

The celebration that the Serbia national team had back in the country after the Olympics was amazing. Was it the biggest moment of your career so far?
Yes, it was. That's one of the greatest moments I have had so far because first of all, winning an Olympic medal is great and we made history. It was a great moment, a great experience for me, especially also as my hometown named a place with my name. That’s really big for me. I am really honored and I felt really emotional when that happened.

The first game against the USA was a close one but the Final was pretty easy for the USA. What happened?
I don't know. You know, nobody expected us to reach the Final of the tournament. We were so happy to be in the Final, we had been working so hard to go to Rio, I don't know what happened…maybe we were just very happy and we couldn't control that. It’s still a big accomplishment for us that we reached the Final and won the silver medal.

What do you think about your personal performances from the Belgrade OQT to the Olympic campaign?
The national team is not about myself; it's about helping my teammates. I just want to do the right things to win. The national team is always going to be seen from that perspective for me.

Serbia have been included in Istanbul's Group D alongside Turkey, Great Britain, Russia, Latvia and Belgium. That's not an easy group, is it?
Every team that comes to play in this kind of competition, whether it's the Olympic Games, the World Cup or the EuroBasket, don't come to just play. They come to win. In this kind of tournament, a loss can change your position in the table of the group and the rest of the campaign, so we will need to be ready and prepared for everything that will happen in Istanbul.

Do you dream of winning a EuroBasket with the national team?
Yes, of course. Isn't that all we dream about? It's all we dream about (laughs).

Jokic played for Sasha Djordjevic in 2016

You have witnessed the improvement and the great results of the national team in the last couple of years under coach Sasha Djordjevic. What do you think about his impact on the team?
He's emotional. He loves Serbia and he always wants the best for the country. That's a big thing for us. When we get on the court, we are fighting; we give it all for him and for the country. We never want to lose; we want to fight hard in every single game. It's probably on that aspect that coach Djordjevic has been pushing us the most.

FIBA