Nikola has Serbian ethnicity, given the fact that he was born (and raised) in Sombor. The eastern European NBA star told Bleacher Report back in 2017, "After my career is over, I'm gonna go back there ... It's super slow — not too much going on — but you have everything. You have a canal, nature; you can get peace of mind outside the city. I just like to be someplace where I know how to drive a car without navigation. How I say, no place like home? Something like that."

The youngest of three brothers (Nikola's brothers are Nemanja and Strahinja), Nikola never anticipated that he was destined for a life in the NBA.

Even when Nikola was drafted to the NBA, he stayed humble. Per the same interview from Bleacher Report, is brother Nemanja called Nikola, who was asleep in Serbia at the time his life changed forever. Nemanja joked from NYC, "You got drafted in the NBA! How do you sleep right now?"