{"id":157168,"date":"2025-07-09T01:44:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-09T01:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/157168\/"},"modified":"2025-07-09T01:44:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T01:44:12","slug":"nikola-jokic-turns-heads-with-final-decision-on-nuggets-contract-extension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/157168\/","title":{"rendered":"Nikola Jokic Turns Heads With Final Decision on Nuggets Contract Extension"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nikola Jokic Turns Heads With Final Decision on Nuggets Contract Extension<\/a> originally appeared on Athlon Sports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Denver Nuggets have had a successful offseason already by just about any measure, though the team received unfortunate news from its superstar center on Tuesday, July 8.<\/p>\n

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Three-time MVP Nikola Jokic made the franchise aware of his plans to decline a contract extension this summer, despite his eligibility for a maximum deal worth $212 million over three years.<\/p>\n

“Nikola Jokic has informed the Nuggets he won’t sign a contract extension this offseason, team sources told [the Denver Post],” Bennett Durando reported via his X account<\/a> on Tuesday. “Here’s why it makes sense to wait.”<\/p>\n

Jokic is currently under contract through 2027-28 on a five-year deal worth $276.1 million<\/a>, which includes a player option worth $62.8 million in the final season.<\/p>\n

By waiting until the summer of 2026, Jokic can up his extension by approximately $80 million in total, per Durando.<\/p>\n

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The Nuggets center, who is also a former champion, has played in the NBA for 10 years. He will turn 31 in February 2026.<\/p>\n

Jokic currently boasts career averages of 21.8 points, 10.9 rebounds, 7.2 assists and 1.3 steals<\/a>\u00a0per game. He averaged a triple-double last season with 29.6 points, 12.7 rebounds, 10.2 assists and 1.8 steals, though didn’t win his fourth MVP despite that relatively ridiculous level of production.<\/p>\n

\"Denver<\/p>\n

Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic.<\/p>\n

That honor went to Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, whose team bested Jokic and the Nuggets in a seven-game bout during Round 2 of the Western Conference playoffs. The Thunder went on to win the title by defeating the Indiana Pacers in a seven-game series during the NBA Finals.<\/p>\n

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Major moves<\/a> the Nuggets have executed this summer in their attempt to catch up with the Thunder include trading Michael Porter Jr. and a future first-round pick to the Brooklyn Nets for Cam Johnson in what was partially a salary dump but also could prove beneficial to the team’s on-court chemistry and success.<\/p>\n

Denver also traded Dario Saric to the Sacramento Kings for backup center\u00a0Jonas Valanciunas and signed Bruce Brown and Tim Hardaway Jr. to one-year deals in free agency.<\/p>\n

Related: Denver Nuggets Send Michael Porter Jr. Message After Trade With Brooklyn Nets<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports<\/a> on Jul 8, 2025, where it first appeared.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nikola Jokic Turns Heads With Final Decision on Nuggets Contract Extension originally appeared on Athlon Sports. The Denver…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56375,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3781],"tags":[7,29746,247,6850,1828,4677,301,187,3943,126,562,6,253,302,179,477,209,10020,9919,911],"class_list":{"0":"post-157168","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-denver-nuggets","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-bennett-durando","10":"tag-brooklyn-nets","11":"tag-bruce-brown","12":"tag-cam-johnson","13":"tag-contract-extension","14":"tag-denver","15":"tag-denver-nuggets","16":"tag-denvernuggets","17":"tag-indiana-pacers","18":"tag-michael-porter-jr","19":"tag-nba","20":"tag-nikola-jokic","21":"tag-nuggets","22":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","23":"tag-sacramento-kings","24":"tag-shai-gilgeous-alexander","25":"tag-team-sources","26":"tag-the-denver-post","27":"tag-tim-hardaway-jr"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114820747894094819","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157168\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}