The Denver Nuggets have reportedly had tension between the coaching staff and front office, but Nikola Jokic has declined to offer an opinion on the situation.
“That’s not my job,” Jokic said. “I’m just trying to play basketball, and I’m happy if we have a chance every year.”
Since winning the championship in 2023, the Nuggets have lost Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Bruce Brown, Jeff Green and Reggie Jackson.
“There was this urge to compete, especially from the players and the coaches and even myself,” Calvin Booth told ESPN. “You want to win, especially coming off the heels of winning the championship. And that’s probably where the tension started.
“What are you guys trying to do? Are you trying to win? Are you trying to develop? I think everybody had the best intent going in. There was buy-in. But I think competition and the focus on that can distract you from the buy-in.”
“I think people in general, they always want more and more and more, but they don’t know what they have,” Jokic said. “I’m really happy we have one title — a lot of very good players don’t win.”
“If we don’t win it this year,” Michael Porter Jr. told ESPN. “We all know they might have to break it up.”
Booth said he speaks with Jokic often for his input on the team.
“[He] has earned the respect of check-ins and seeing, ‘What do you think about it?'” Booth said. “There’s a fine line — if there’s somebody that he’s played with for a long time, I wouldn’t put that responsibility on him. … But we try to involve him as much as we can.”
“I’m just here to play basketball,” Jokic said. “I don’t understand contracts, this and that, years and CBA. … That’s not my job.”