Don’t panic, Denver Nuggets fans.
Nikola Jokić won’t sign a contract extension with the Nuggets this offseason, according to the Denver Post. But there’s a perfectly good — and obvious — reason for the decision. He’ll stand to secure roughly $80 million more if he waits to sign an extension until 2026.
Per the Post, Jokić has informed the Nuggets he won’t sign an extension this summer, the first offseason he was eligible to do so. Jokić is approaching the third year of a five-year, $276 million supermax contract that runs through the 2027-28 season. The final season of the deal comes with a player option, so his services are secured in Denver through the 2026-27 season.
Jokić is eligible this summer to sign a three-year, $212 million extension ($70.6 million AAV) that would keep him under Denver’s control into his mid-30s. The precise value of an extension if he waits until 2026 isn’t clear.
But per multiple reports including the Post’s, waiting until next summer would net Jokić an additional year on the extension and an estimated $80 million more in guaranteed money. That’s plenty of reason to exercise patience.
Josh Kroenke’s stance on Jokić extension
The decision by Jokić was expected and reported on the first day he was eligible to sign an extension. Nuggets governor Josh Kroenke anticipated the decision in comments to media in June.
“We’re definitely going to offer it,” Kroenke said of an extension for Jokić. “I’m not sure if he’s going to accept it or not, because we’re also going to explain every financial parameter around him signing now versus signing later.
“To be completely transparent, that’s the way we always are. And then he makes the best decision for himself and his family, and we’ll support him in it.”
Can Nuggets compel Jokić to remain long term?
Jokić, 30, is a three-time MVP who led the Nuggets to the franchise’s first NBA championship in 2023. He’s coming off another MVP-caliber season in which he finished second in voting to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Extension talk arrives amid an offseason of change in Denver in which the Nuggets have hired a new coach and revamped their front office after dismissing head coach Michael Malone and general manager Calvin Booth late in the season.
With new coach David Adelman at the helm, the Nuggets pushed the eventual champion Oklahoma City Thunder to seven games in a second-round playoff series that exposed the flaws in Denver’s roster.
Denver’s front-office tandem of executive vice presidents Ben Tenzer and Jonathan Wallace has been aggressive this offseason in retooling Denver’s roster in hopes of maximizing the remainder of Jokić’s prime — and convincing him to stay.
The Nuggets traded Michael Porter Jr. to the Brooklyn Nets in a deal that returned sharp-shooting wing Cam Johnson and opened salary cap flexibility for Denver to address significant depth issues. They’ve capitalized on that flexibility by reuniting with wing defender Bruce Brown, adding more shooting in veteran guard Tim Hardaway Jr. and providing much-needed post relief for Jokić in trading for center Jonas Valančiūnas — though it remains to be seen if Valančiūnas will play for the Nuggets as he’s being courted overseas.
The moves signal Denver’s intent to return to championship contention. And the Nuggets are certainly hoping they’ll nudge Jokić into signing a four-year extension next summer.
