The last thing any Denver Nuggets fans are thinking about is life after Nikola Jokic, but that’s exactly what DeMarcus Cousins was talking about on a recent episode of the Straight Game Podcast. Boogie was chopping it up with hosts Eddie House, Mike Bibby, and Ty Ellis and told a story about sitting next to Jokic in the locker room and hearing the Joker openly talk about retiring.
Cousins insisted that Jokic really doesn’t care about basketball and said it might be his third or fourth favorite thing to do. He talked about how he’ll put up crazy stat lines while not even wanting to be there.
He also talked about how he was once talking to Joker about a player who had just extended their contract and alluded to how big Jokic’s next contract would be and Nikola stunned him by suggesting he may retire before even signing his next deal. And that was in the 2021-22 season!
Demarcus Cousins says Nikola Jokic considered retirement instead of signing a Supermax deal with the Nuggets 😳😳 pic.twitter.com/4UaKA5V85I
— Straight Game Podcast (@straightgamepod) July 31, 2025
Cousins hasn’t even played in the NBA for the past three seasons so he is talking about a time before Jokic had even won a title and before he started his current max contract. It’s a crazy thought to even consider at this point.
Jokic obviously decided not to retire
Knowing what we know now, it seems that Cousins was able to talk Jokic out of retiring as he ended up signing a 5-year, $270 million contract in July of 2022 and led the Nuggets to a championship the following season.
We may never know how close the Joker truly was to calling it a career, or if he was even close at all. But it is interesting, given the current landscape of things. Jokic chose not to hold extension talks this summer despite being eligible to do so, and after this season, he’ll have just one year left on his current deal.
All signs point to Jokic inking a long max extension next summer, and it makes financial sense for him, but until the deal is signed, that’s all just speculation. This is perhaps a timely reminder of how delicate this whole thing is. We know how badly Jokic wants to compete and win in the NBA, but we also know how much he loves being with his family and his horses in Serbia.
I don’t think Cousins was completely fabricating a story, but was rather offering some rare insight into how Jokic thinks. It’s not a reason for Nuggets fans to panic or anything, but it’s a good reason to appreciate what we have while we have it.