Nikola Jokic and Paul Millsap, two of the Denver Nuggets best players, have earned their contract incentives with the Nuggets guaranteed to reach the playoffs.
Per ESPN’s Bobby Marks, Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic and power forward Paul Millsap have earned their contract incentives due to the NBA’s deciding to resume the 2019-20 season.
Both Jokic and Millsap were set to earn incentives for reaching the playoffs this season and because there will only be 8 regular season games prior to the postseason, the Nuggets are locks for the 2020 NBA Playoffs (the lowest they can drop in the Western Conference standings is 7th).
https://twitter.com/BobbyMarks42/status/1268930826793889792
Just a drop in the water
While Jokic will earn $465,518 for reaching the playoffs, Millsap will earn $150,000. With Jokic earning $26.6 million this season and Millsap earning $30.5 million, this is drop in the water for them both but it’s always nice to have extra cash.
These two Denver stars would likely much rather have a deep run into the playoffs instead of extra money though.
At 35-years-old, Millsap has been in the NBA for 14 seasons but has never won a NBA championship. He’s only even reached the Conference Finals twice, with one ending in a sweep to the Cleveland Cavaliers (2014-15) and the other a 1-4 loss to the San Antonio Spurs (2006-07).
Jokic is just 25-years-old and has only been in the league for five years but last year he had his only playoff appearance, which ended in a 3-4 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers in the Western Conference semifinals.
Per ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk, Nuggets guard Jamal Murray is confident that he and Jokic can lead the Nuggets to a championship but they’ll have real competition in both the notoriously deep Western Conference and the top teams of the Eastern Conference.
Currently, the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers and Milwaukee Bucks are considered to be the most likely teams to win a championship.