Fans of the Denver Nuggets knew that they would have a long season ahead of them when it came to hearing about all of the rumors that would involve Nikola Jokic bolting town to seek out a new team to build around him. Jokic addressed those rumors during the offseason while he was playing for his native Serbia. And you'd think those rumors were put to rest after his proclamation during the team's media day a couple of weeks ago when he said, "I'm going to sign next year." You would have thought.
But the rumor has hit again. Okay, maybe not a rumor, but in a new article posted on The Athletic, John Hollinger postulates that "there is a justifiable paranoia in the Mile High City that the shortcomings of the rest of the roster may cause his eye to wander."
No, there's not, John. There's no paranoia. Not even a little bit. Zero. None!
Why? Because Jokic isn't the kind of guy who's going to say all of this and then go back on it. Plus, Joker's got many millions of reasons to stay with the Nuggets. Nearly $360 million of them.
Jokic will retire with the Nuggets
At no point in his career with the team has Jokic ever said he was looking to get out of town. He loves Denver, he loves the fans, and he's at home in the Mile High City. That familiarity goes a long way. Plus, Jokic described not signing his contract extension this summer simply as a "business" decision. Hint: the Nuggets can offer him more money than any other team next year--an NBA record contract--plus a no-trade clause, which is rare in the NBA these days. Sounds like a smart business move!
Plus, Jokic said this summer that he wanted to "stay in Denver for the rest of my life [career]." There's literally nothing floating around from Jokic that suggests he would want to leave or consider leaving Denver.
If anything, Jokic would probably retire before he left the Nuggets for another team to go play with his horses in Serbia. That's the issue that should be causing paranoia in the Mile High City.
But not even that does it for me. Jokic's word is good. He'll be a Nugget for the rest of his career, and he'll probably retire at the end of the five-year, $359.5 million extension he says he will sign next summer. At the end of those five years, paranoia can set in.
But until he does put his signature on the dotted line, Nuggets fans are going to have to endure the silly rumors. Even with Jokic's affirmation that he's going to "sign next year." Because plenty of people want to see the best player in the world on their team, too.
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