Denver Nuggets’ 3-Time MVP Jokic Opts Against Extension … For Now

The feeding frenzy at the top of the NBA contract extension market will not include Denver star Nikola Jokic.

Jokic, a three-time NBA Most Valuable Player, has told team officials that he will not sign the three-year, $207 million contact extension that he could have signed Tuesday and which would have kicked in for the 2027-28 season, the Denver Post reported.

Jokic instead will play for $59 million in 2025-26, in the final year of the supermax contract he signed prior to the 2023 season. That deal includes a $62.8 million player option for 2027-28.

By waiting a year to renegotiate, Jokic is eligible to add another year to his extension, which would make the three-year package worth about about $290 million.

Jokic could earn about $80 million in 2030-31, the final year of the deal, his age-36 season.

The Nuggets presented both sides of the extension issue with Jokic in the offseason, the Post reported.

“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,” Nuggets owner Josh Kroenke said in late June.

Decision Could Be a Win for Both Sides

By putting off the extension, the Nuggets have the possibility of rostering Jokic for an addition year.

Jokic, for his part, could opt to test the free agent market if he feels the Nuggets have not done enough to remain title contenders.

The downside to his decision to defer is a potential career-threatening injury, but it seemed a risk worth taking inasmuch as he has played at least 69 games in all of his 10 NBA seasons.

Jokic is the second player since Larry Bird to finish in the top five in MVP voting for five straight seasons after finishing second in 2025. He won the award in 2021-2022 and 2024.

He was critical of the Nuggets’ lack of depth following their 125-93 rout by Oklahoma City in the Game 7 of Western Conference semifinals.

“We played for so long in such a way, it’s hard for guys to step up against really good teams,” Jokic said. “It definitely seems like the more the rotation and a longer bench, those are the teams who are winning — Indiana, OKC, Minnesota.”

Asked if the current Denver core was good enough to follow the 2023 title with another, Jokic was blunt.

“We didn’t, so obviously we can’t,” Jokic said. “If we could, we would win it. So I don’t know. I don’t believe in the ‘if, if’ stuff. So we had an opportunity, we didn’t win it, so I think we can’t.”

Nuggets Look to Answer Jokic’s Concerns

The Nuggets have made moves to address those concerns under what Kroenke calls an “unorthodox” front office, where Ben Tenzer is the executive vice president of basketball operations and Jonathan Wallace is the executive vice president of player personnel.

Denver traded Michael Porter Jr. for Cam Johnson and signed free agents guard Bruce Brown and Tim Hardaway Jr. to veteran minimum contracts. Brown was integral reserve on their 2023 title team.

They also traded for center Jonas Valanciunas, but that deal is in limbo because reports indicate Valanciunas has accepted an offer to play with Panathinaikos of the Greek league.

The Nuggets’ moves add depth and also create the sort of financial flexibility that forced them out of the top of the free agent market because of second apron concerns a year ago. Best affordable option Russell Westbrook was not enough.

Aaron Gordon ($22.8 million) and Johnson ($21 million) will make manageable salaries this season, and Brown and Hardaway will make only about $2.3 million apiece. Porter is due $79 million the next two seasons; Johnson, $44 million.

With Jokic deferring, the Nuggets are $10 million under the first apron and $22 million under the second apron at this point.

Gordon and Jamal Murray are the only Nuggets under contract through next season, pending Jokic’s player option for 2027-28, which more room moving forward.