The Denver Nuggets came into the offseason with the easiest play on the board right in front of them, and they're trying to play it, too. Give Nikola Jokic his max contract extension. Get the best player in the world signed long-term, and avoid the doomsday scenario of entering his player option year with the chance to decline and go play somewhere else as a free agent.
They're trying, but Jokic hasn't given them the nod yet, and now the Nuggets may be on the hot seat to put together a luxury-tax paying, deeper team than they had originally planned. That's good news for fans and Jokic alike.
The Nuggets might decide to not dump salary
Even if it's inadvertent pressure, and he's simply holding out for more money on the extension next year, it's probably necessary pressure to get the Nuggets to do the right thing and keep the roster at contending standards instead of trying to duck the luxury tax threshold for the second year in a row.
The new report from The Stein Line by Marc Stein and Jake Fischer (subscription required) highlights this topic, and honestly, it was time Jokic got a little dirty to force the Nuggets to make a change.
"Even if the current delay proves to be short-term, there is a resultant pressure on Nuggets management — for as long as it lasts — that far, far exceeds anything that Jokic has ever applied previously," they said.
They aren't kidding. Jokic's loyal, almost to a fault, and even if it's something as simple as delaying the signature to force the front office's hands to make a move, kudos to you on that, Joker.
Last year, the Nuggets took a clear roster downgrade by trading Michael Porter Jr. plus a future first-round pick for Cameron Johnson in a blatant salary cut. The Nuggets finished the year under the luxury tax threshold for the first time in four years.
Clearly, the Nuggets could have used a healthy (key word: healthy) MPJ against the Minnesota Timberwolves. He was an integral part of the core, but the Nuggets wanted to duck the tax and close Jokic's championship window a little bit while he was still in his prime.
It's about time Jokic applied pressure
That couldn't have sat so well with Jokic, and he knows there is a free agent backdoor on his contract at the conclusion of this season, where he can decline his player option. Having the best player in the world holding out on giving you the nod that he's going to sign his extension or not can't sit well with the Nuggets front office, despite their public-facing view that it appears all is well.
Nuggets fans have seen other teams commit to paying huge luxury tax fines, and they'd like to finally see their ownership group do the same for the best player in the world.
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