“From a young age, I always want to be the best no matter what, and I still want to be the best in every way possible,” said Nikola Jovic during a Q&A session back in June 2024. The Serbian developed a determined personality right from the start, which allowed him to carve a path from the Royal Infirmary in Leicester, England, all the way to the Miami Heat. While some individual accolades are yet to make the player’s way, his presence within the Florida franchise has helped their offensive prowess by quite a bit. In the words of Tyler Herro, “I just love the way he plays and he’s so skilled, I really think he’s really, really good.”

The more his competitive spirit allows him to rise through the ranks, the better chance Jovic has of securing a monstrous contract within the coming years. For now, however, the 21-year-old power forward continues to play under a rookie contract.

How much are the Miami Heat paying Nikola Jovic? When does he become a free agent?

Being a first-round, 27 overall pick meant that the player was set to be placed under a high-paying rookie contract. In the end, the Miami Heat presented the Serbian with a 4-year, $11,501,537 contract. The entire amount was placed under the guaranteed category, and Jovic was set to receive an average of $2.875 million annually.

Due to the Miami Heat setting a cap hit, Nikola Jovic is only set to earn $2.464 million throughout the ongoing 2024-25 season. As a result, Jovic is currently the 338 highest-paid player in the league. He is placed right between Boston Celtics’ Baylor Scheierman ($2.494 million), and Utah Jazz’s Darius Bazley ($2,463,946). However, things will improve for the Heat star come 2025-26 season. After all, in the previous two seasons, the cap hit had allowed Jovic to earn around $2.239 million and $2.352 million. To clear out the remaining amount before the contract expires, Jovic will be paid a whopping $4.445 million next season.

So, as of the 2023-24 season, Nikola Jovic has accumulated career earnings of up to $4.5 million just from his NBA contracts.

Back in September 2024, Jovic had the $4.4 million fourth-year option in his rookie deal picked up. As a result, once Nikola Jovic’s contract expires at the end of the 2025-26 season, he is set to become a restricted free agent. This means that Jovic is open to receiving offers from other teams, but the Miami Heat has a right to match the price and retain the player if they want. At the same time, Jovic can continue his run with the team if he chooses to agree to an extension with the Heat before the upcoming summer.

How the player performs during the ongoing and upcoming season could very well determine just how much of a raise he can receive on his existing average annual salary.

Which draft class does Nikola Jovic belong to? Which university did he attend?

Nikola Jovic was a part of the draft class of 2022. It also brought stars like Paolo Banchero, Jalen Williams, and Tari Eason to the NBA world. The player certainly came from a unique category of draft picks, since he hadn’t even graduated high school when he was taken in by the Miami Heat. In fact, as Heat coach Erik Spoelstra highlighted, Jovic had not even given his final exam! This was because Jovic’s high school was in Serbia, and he was spending his day in America engaging in pre-draft workouts.

“I didn’t have time [to take the exam] — especially because of the time difference,” said Jovic, reportedly with a sheepish smile. As the player highlighted, the decision wasn’t something that sat well with his mother. Fortunately, Jovic eventually graduated high school in September 2023. He took his final exams just days after Team Serbia secured the silver medal at the 2023 FIBA World Cup.

Despite his young age and no college experience, Nikola Jovic was still a renowned name before the 2022 NBA Draft. The Serbian first started making waves during his tenure with the KK Sava youth system. Eventually, he joined the Mega Basket youth system in 2018. It is the same Serbian professional basketball club which has Nikola Jokic amongst its alumni. Despite this, he didn’t get to play his senior debut until February 2021. As a result, the young star only got to play 4 games during the 2020-21 season of the Serbian club. Still, Jovic left a memorable impression by averaging 11.8 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 1 assist. His performance stayed consistent during the next season too, since the Serbian averaged 11.7 points, 4.4 points, and 3.4 rebounds throughout 27 games.

According to a regional report by Danas, Jović was “almost single-handedly” responsible for turning the odds for Mega, who were attempting to make it through the finals of the qualifying tournament for the 2021 Euroleague. During the final game itself, Jovic went on to score 32 points, 12 rebounds, and 7 assists. This allowed him to be deservedly named the MVP of the tournament, while still being under the age of 18.

Nikola Jovic’s performances in the Mega Club and the EuroLeague Qualifying tournament spread his name across basketball enthusiasts. And even NBA scouts. As a result, in the ‘NBA.com 2021-22 GM Survey’, the Serbian received votes for the best international player NOT in the NBA. This may have worked in his favor when he entered his name during the 2022 NBA Draft.

Despite reportedly having not made a good impression the previous season, Nikola Jovic is moving on up this time around. Whether his progression and competitive spirit yield him a high-paying contract or not remains to be seen.