With an 18-point victory over the Dallas Mavericks in Game 5 on Monday night, the Boston Celtics wrapped up the NBA Finals, snapping their 16-year title drought and capturing their 18th championship banner.

Since every member of their playoff rotation is signed for at least one more season, many believe this may be the start of a dynasty run and the end of the NBA’s recent period of parity, in which six different teams have won the last six titles. Many teams, including Denver, the 2023 winners, would believe that their Game 7 loss to Minnesota in the second round was a squandering of opportunity. In the forthcoming season, these teams hope to put Boston’s basketball hegemony to the test.

With three-time MVP Nikola Jokic on the roster, Denver will always have a puncher’s chance, but they still need to add some more players to complete out the team and gain some more reliable playoff depth. Jokic is back in his hometown of Sombor, Serbia, as he is every summer. On social media, we can frequently see him having fun at the racecourse or singing and dancing at a neighbourhood pub.

Since Jokic is not the kind of basketball player who likes to share pictures or videos of himself “in the lab” during his offseason training, we do not always see him working hard on the court over the summer. On Tuesday, though, a video showing Jokic playing a 3-on-3 game with what looks to be a random bunch of guys playing pickup basketball at a park in Sombor appeared on Twitter. Jokic was getting some light practice on the court.

Jokic is clearly not going full speed here, but I would never stop talking about it if I was the guy that got a bucket on Jokic here. I also have to shoutout Jokic’s teammate who refuses to play a two-man game with Jokic, dribbling straight past him and waving him off before launching a three that bricks. That’s what pickup ball is all about and I’m glad the over-confidence of random guys in the park doesn’t change even when you have literally the best basketball player in the world out there on your team.