We know. We get it. It's probably going to be one long year for the Denver Nuggets and their fans as they have to constantly listen to how this team and that team are going to clear cap space or do whatever it takes to try to pry Nikola Jokic away next summer as he enters his player option year, unsigned on his extension. Let them all. We'll take our three-time MVP at his word in the Mile High City.
Yes, it's going to be a long season hearing about those rumors. And yes, the Nuggets are now violating the NBA's second apron luxury tax threshold. Making maneuvering to get a better team around Jokic that much more difficult in and of itself. But that doesn't mean it will run Joker out of town next year.
But what if we have to go through this for two years? As ESPN's Bobby Marks points out on the latest Brian Windhorst and the Hoop Collective podcast, Jokic keeps delaying the signing of his contract for even more money each summer.
Jokic is holding for more and more money
By delaying until the summer of 2027, Jokic can add $80 million to his extension. Waiting to add more money is exactly why Jokic made the move last year, and so far, that seems to be the only motivation this year as well. Jokic could even delay another summer, play through his team option year, and sign the extension as a free agent.
But that would be treacherous for the Nuggets. The consensus amongst most is that Denver will be Jokic's home for his career, and he isn't trying to last out longer to leave the Nuggets in free agency. But what a thought of Jokic hitting free agency at all. It's an unsettling prospect.
I think even then, if the Nuggets were bottom feeders, Jokic would sign his extension to allow a trade to happen, given what the city and franchise have meant to him. He wouldn't leave the Nuggets and Nuggets fans hanging like that. The Nuggets would at least get a Giannis Antetokounmpo return like the Milwaukee Bucks got this year.
The problem is roster construction. Perhaps Jokic doesn't care?
The only issue that Jokic will create massive problems for roster construction by taking up so much cap space, and that is precisely why Victor Wembanyama just took a discount on his extension for the San Antonio Spurs. He gave the Spurs more flexibility to put a better team around him, with the hope of it producing a longer, better title window. Jalen Brunson had done the same with the Knicks a couple of years ago, and he was rewarded with an NBA championship this year.
Maybe that doesn't matter to Jokic anymore? He's got a title, a Finals MVP, and maybe that's enough for him. Maybe he'll be super content signing the richest contract in NBA history. We don't know. But we do know it's going to be a long year hearing about it.
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