Getty A boy runs past a mural depicting Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic, painted on the external wall of a primary school in Belgrade.
Nikola Vucevic just had one of his best games of the 2021-22 season for the Chicago Bulls. With his team more closely resembling a MASH unit than an NBA title contender on Saturday, the big man dug down deep and responded with 27 points, six rebounds and six assists against the Boston Celtics.
However, he also had multiple miscues during the game’s final two minutes, and the Cs were able to escape with a two-point win.
Flash forward to now and things have gotten even worse for Vucevic, who decided to hop on social media and speak out on the Novak Djokovic situation.
Djokovic, who was slated to compete in the Australian Open this month, famously had his visa canceled (twice) for failure to meet Australia’s COVID-19 vaccination requirements. The tennis star also admitted to having false information on his travel declaration form upon entering the country.
He has since been deported and won’t compete in the Open. Meanwhile, Vooch’s commentary on the matter was not well-received.
Vucevic Sounds off on Twitter
Vucevic made it clear that he stands in support of Djokovic with a pair of tweets on Sunday. As he sees it, the Serbian has fallen prey to political maneuvering.
“What happened to Djokovic is just politicians using their power to show off and get extra followers. It has nothing to do with Covid or visa issues, they used him to try to make themselves look better. Very sad how they treated a First Class Champion!” Vucevic wrote via Twitter.
In his second tweet on the matter, the two-time All-Star added, “Also to me the saddest thing in this whole Djokovic thing was that only two of his colleagues stood by his side, everyone else got scared…unbelievable.”
Although there were a large number of people that backed Vucevic’s appraisal of what transpired, the 31-year-old hooper was largely taken to task for his defense of Djokovic.
Fans & Fellow Ballers React to Vooch’s Declaration
For his part, New York Knicks wing Evan Fournier looked to be taken aback by Vucevic’s commentary, responding, “Na bro.”
“We have laws,” tweeted another respondent. “If you’re gonna come into our country you need to be vaccinated. This is no different from the countless vaccines you have to get to travel any other time. He’s not above our laws because he hits a ball with a racket.”
“Politics or not he still didn’t follow the rules like the rest of his colleagues did. Being #1 is [no] exception,” read a third comment on the matter.
“Nah this ain’t it man, L take. A ‘first class champion’ [shouldn’t] be given the opportunity to endanger other first class champions. If he wanted to play he should have followed the rules, he’s not above anybody else,” opined a fourth tweeter.
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