\u2014 Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 21, 2026<\/a> <\/p>\n If someone spoke to me after the Nuggets lost in the first round to old friend Tim Connelly\u2019s (very injured) Minnesota Timberwolves team I probably would have said blow it the eff up and rebuild for 2028 around Jokic. On a bad day I might say something along those lines. Truth of the matter is things are more nuanced in 2026 with Second Aprons, Repeater Taxes and a certain superstar who\u2019s heading very uncomfortably toward unrestricted free agency.<\/p>\n The anxiety that floated around the Peyton Watson restricted free agency saga \u2014 and the fallout from the sign and trade that netted the Nuggets that Cleveland Cavaliers unprotected 2031 first \u2014 could boil down to be less about Watson himself than the very VERY odd circumstance of Jokic\u2019s lack of contract extension. Everyone is certain that Jokic will re-sign, from the Nuggets to the people who cover the team (myself included). However \u2026 it is weird. It is uncomfortable. There\u2019s tiny grain\u2019s of uneasiness about this season going dramatically sideways and creating a new set of variables we didn\u2019t think about before.<\/p>\n It\u2019s all there in the back of our minds so when the Watson saga plays out like it does we start thinking the sky is falling. It objectively isn\u2019t \u2026 but it feels that way. I\u2019ll repeat something I said on my podcast over and over this summer; Peyton Watson wasn\u2019t worth the anxiety and mental brain power everyone was using to obsess about it. The Nuggets saw him as a slightly above mid-level player. Peyton\u2019s team (Klutch) wanted above Christian Braun money. There is the binary and it played out as you saw. I don\u2019t think the Nuggets are losing as much as people believe they are with Watson leaving but it FEELS SO MUCH WORSE. The Jokic weirdness just sort of amplifies the anxiety.<\/p>\n Once again. I fully and with my entire heart expect Jokic to sign a mega-extension in the offseason of 2027. It\u2019s just weird. There is a ton of trust that needs to be applied here.<\/p>\n S obzirom da od danas slobodni agenti mogu da potpisuju ugovore sa NBA timovima, pitao sam Nikolu #Joki\u0107<\/a>-a kakvi su njegovi planovi i razmi\u0161ljanja tim povodom:<\/p>\n “Moja ideja je da potpi\u0161em slede\u0107eg leta i da ostanem do kraja \u017eivota (karijere) u Denveru” pic.twitter.com\/LXcR5gnmna<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Marko Ljubomirovi\u0107 (@LjubomirovicM) July 6, 2026<\/a> <\/p>\n To that point: During this weird year the Nuggets are sort of biding their time. No needle up. No needle down. Just half measures designed to keep the Nuggets on the same plane. Hoping beyond hope that players who\u2019ve struggled with injury for the last several seasons will be completely healthy this season. They are behaving like a team that isn\u2019t worried in the slightest that their legendary player is walking out that door. At the same time that laissez-faire approach is just a little incongruous with the urgency of time and Jokic\u2019s impending potential big offseason in 2027<\/p>\n So that makes what is largely just a ho-hum off season a bit more weird and causes The Ringer to put out an article about how the Nuggets should be embarassed<\/a>.\u00a0I\u2019ve gone over and over and over the mistakes that have been made by the Nuggets organization that has led us to this point since 2022. Between going all in on late first and second round picks, to squandering second round assets to dump players and\/or draft someone who is parked on the bench. From allowing a cold war\/blood feud to linger between coach and GM to hiring an inexperienced head coach to preside over a contending team. None of that really applies here. The Nuggets intent is clear as day. They believe that a completely healthy Nuggets team with the band aids applied this year is \u2026 fine. Not great. Not terrible. Fine.It\u2019s the feeling that this kind of approach leaves you with though. Did they do enough? Why aren\u2019t they being more urgent? If the second apron and repeater tax are such big factors, why no big trade to relieve the books? All of these questions linger over the Nuggets like a stink cloud in a Peanuts cartoon.\u00a0<\/p>\n One last note: All of these sort of staying in place, half measure moves have perplexed everyone from national media to people in the league. When there is confusion in the NBA it starts the birds a chirpin\u2019 and not only have the Nuggets sort of done nothing to move their own needle they have, additionally, sort of invited what is sure to be a hellish year of rumor mongering and migraine inducing speculation to the mix. This is not going to be fun.\u00a0It heightens that feeling that the Nuggets just holding fort isn\u2019t good enough when in reality they will be a 3 or 4 seed and win over 50 games.\u00a0It\u2019s just a feeling though. Feelings go away.Most of the time.(Column written before it was revealed that Enos Stanley Kroenke just bought the Los Angeles Angels for over 4 billion dollars which \u2026 deserves it\u2019s own column. Or podcast. Just listen to the Mortcast on CSG<\/a>)<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026-04-07T044949Z_1372693193_MT1USATODAY28674109_RTRMADP_3_NBA-PORTLAND-TRAIL-BLAZERS-AT-DENVER-NUG.jpeg\")
Apr 6, 2026; Denver, Colorado, USA; Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic (15) reacts after a play as forward Cam Johnson (23) and forward Aaron Gordon (32) and guard Christian Braun (0) and guard Jamal Murray (27) look on in the fourth quarter against the Portland Trail Blazers at Ball Arena. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images<\/p>\n