Nikola Jokić has been the subject of plenty of speculation this offseason. After the superstar center rejected a contract three-year, $212 million, many NBA peers started talking about the possibility of Jokić potentially leaving the Denver Nuggets. However, NBA Insider Zach Lowe recently put those rumors to bed in a recent episode of the Zach Lowe Show.
“Nobody in Denver batted an eye that I heard, privately or publicly, when Jokić said, ‘You know what? It doesn’t make sense for me financially to do it this summer. Let’s revisit it next summer,’” said Lowe.
“There’s never even been a whisper through coaching changes at the last minute, through roster turmoil, through losing core guys because of tax issues and whatever, through Calvin Booth getting fired at the end of the season, through all that. There has never been a whisper of like this guy wants to go to a different team.
“There’s the joke whispers about could he just retire and go back to Sombor and be a horse guy, like whatever, maybe. There’s never been a whisper, and so we skirted past it.
“But you just have to flag it that if we get to next summer, it then becomes a little bit of an issue. But all the fans of teams whose guys are constantly in trade rumors, like the [Milwaukee] Bucks, are justifiably like, ‘Why don’t you ever mention [Jokić]? Why is there no panic about that?’ And it’s because there isn’t any panic about it. I haven’t heard any panic about it. I haven’t heard anything from his agency indicating that he’s upset about X, Y, and Z and would ask for a trade. Who knows what’s possible, but that’s all I heard.”
Denver has revamped their roster this offseason with the additions of Cam Johnson, Bruce Brown, and Jonas Valančiūnas.
NBA Insider Reveals There Has Never Been an Indication of Nikola Jokić Wanting to Leave the Denver Nuggets
His Legendary Career Thus Far
There is no secret that Nikola Jokić is widely considered the best player in the world. When the time comes, one should not be surprised if the Nuggets make him the highest-paid player in NBA history. In his 10-year career, the Serbian big man has averaged 21.8 points, 10.9 total rebounds, and 7.2 assists per game. As if that was not impressive enough, Jokić is also on pace to become the all-time leader in triple-doubles (he currently has 164) and is widely considered the greatest player in Denver franchise history. Nikola Jokić and company should be in the thick of championship contention this upcoming year.
