Nikola Jokic decided this offseason not to sign a three-year, $212 million contact extension with the Denver Nuggets, which was his expected decision and has led to zero credible reporting that he could consider leaving the franchise in the future. Sources around Jokic and the Nuggets have indicated that there is no underlying tension on him possibly wanting out.
“Nobody in Denver batted an eye that I heard, privately or publicly, when Jokic 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 [Jokic]? 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.”
Jokic is believed to be pleased with the offseason maneuvers of the Nuggets as they added Cam Johnson, Bruce Brown Jr., Tim Hardaway Jr. and Jonas Valanciunas.