The decision to write the book on Nikola Jokic was simultaneously a no-brainer and a big risk for Mike Singer.

After a handful of years on the Nuggets’ beat, Singer decided to step away from the daily newspaper grind to explore a big-picture product. He and his wife’s first child, a daughter, was born during Denver’s postseason run to the 2023 championship. A couple of years prior, Singer floated the idea of a Jokic biography to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, the author of two books on LeBron James. Things got serious after a Zoom meeting with HarperCollins, the eventual publisher of ‘Why So Serious? The Untold Story of NBA Champion Nikola Jokic,’ during the 2023 NBA Finals. The final product went on sale earlier this week.

“I had this, potentially, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity with a once-in-a-lifetime story,” Singer said Friday afternoon.

The risk involved leaving the security of a full-time job to write a book about an all-time talent who’s reluctant, at best, when it comes to optional interviews. Singer decided not to ask Jokic to be involved from the start.

“We know the answer,” Singer said. “So, I needed to show I was as invested as I possibly could be and that I was willing to do it justice and I was willing to take the time.”

Instead, Singer planned a trip to Serbia and enlisted the help of Marko Llubomirovic, a Serbian journalist Singer met during the 2020 All-Star weekend in Chicago. Llubomirovic ended up driving Singer around, serving as a translator and something of a fixer over the course of Singer’s nine or 10 days in Serbia, which were largely spent in Belgrade with a day or two in Jokic’s hometown, Sombor.

“He was so, so helpful,” Singer said.

The trip to Serbia served as the foundation of the book before Jokic agreed to participate. Singer gave the three-time Most Valuable Player a heads up he was pursuing the project via text message. There was a brief interaction while Jokic sought shelter during a Serbian rainstorm, but the trip was largely about digging into Joker’s mysterious youth.

“I didn’t let him. He did it by himself,” Jokic said of his participation. “He was just doing it. He showed up in my hometown, talking to my coach, and me and my best friend. … He left, ‘I said bye, bye,”

Before Singer departed, there was a valuable night with some of Jokic’s close friends over mugs of beer in a smoke-filled watering hole in Sombor. One of the most valuable resources ended up being Isidor Rudic, one of Jokic’s first coaches.

“This guy, he knew. I think he knew at the time that there was something going on. Like, he took notes, and who’s taking notes on 12- and 13-year-olds and whether they can do crunches and stuff? Maybe that’s just like a Serbian thing,” Singer said. “But he absolutely had Nikola’s best interests and was just trying to get the best out of him.”

Eventually, Singer’s legwork convinced Jokic to sit down for a one-on-one interview that lasted less than half an hour. It’s one of Jokic’s most extensive media availabilities to date.

“It was really helpful to know where I was thin, to know where I had gaps,” Singer said. “That interview was so awesome, because for 23 minutes – I think it’s among the longest interviews he’s ever done. I didn’t ask one question about the MVPs.”

That approach appealed to Jokic, who told the author he had spoken to the right people. Singer said he was roughly 60% done with the book before Jokic agreed to sit down for an interview earlier this year. Jokic was partway through the book after Tuesday’s win over Golden State, the same day Singer’s book became available to the public.

“Not the whole (thing), but I read like, actually, a decent amount,” Jokic said after the Nuggets beat the Warriors. “There’s some good stories, yeah. Mike did a good job.”

The gamble to leave his regular gig to write the book on Jokic appears to have paid off before Singer saw the first-week sales. He’s now employed by the Nuggets as the director of intelligence and strategy in a full-time capacity.

“I always kind of held out hope that he would do it. I believed he would; I just didn’t have tangible proof,” Singer said. “When you tackle this kind of project, you kind of just have to make a leap, right? You kind of just have to bet on it and trust that if you do the work and the due diligence, that it’s going to be rewarded. I kind of just jumped.”