For the second consecutive offseason, Nikola Jokić is passing on a new contract with the Denver Nuggets. The three-time MVP told reporters in Serbia this week that he’d rather wait until 2027 – and the reason, bluntly, is money.
“My idea is to sign next summer and stay with Denver for the rest of my career,” the Serbian center said.
The math is straightforward. By letting his player option expire and entering unrestricted free agency in 2027, Jokić qualifies for a five-year deal projected at roughly $359.5 million – the largest contract in NBA history. The extension available to him this summer topped out near $278 million. Waiting earns him more than $80 million in additional guaranteed money, and his camp has been explicit: this is “strictly a financial decision.”
Denver is not sweating it
The Nuggets front office is publicly unmoved. “Denver has remained bullish that Jokić doesn’t plan on going anywhere,” per The Denver Post’s Bennett Durando, citing team sources. The franchise reads the situation the same way most outside observers do: the two sides want the same long-term outcome, they’re just negotiating the timing.
Jokić is under contract for 2026-27, which keeps him in a Denver uniform next season regardless of what happens on the contract front. The Nuggets go into the year with their franchise cornerstone locked in – just without the long-term deal formally signed.
A number that reframes everything
That $359.5 million figure puts the rest of the offseason’s contract news into perspective. Donovan Mitchell just signed a four-year, $273 million extension with Cleveland – a deal that set a new record for annual value at the time. Jokić’s projected 2027 contract would make it look modest.
The surface-level risk is real. Jokić will be 32 when he signs in 2027, playing through a walk year on an expiring deal. An injury would change the calculus significantly. But this is a player who has been the best in basketball for the better part of five years. Betting on yourself, at that level, is not a gamble – it’s arithmetic.
Denver goes into 2026-27 with championship ambitions intact and a $359 million question hovering in the background. Jokić, as usual, didn’t sound like a man who was losing sleep over it.
Sources: CBS Sports, Yahoo Sports, Dunkest
