- avant-hier
🚨 ESPN reports that Nikola Jokic has delayed contract extension talks with the Denver Nuggets until next summer (2026) — potentially aiming for a bigger max deal and keeping trade options, including a move to the Lakers, in play
Jokic is eligible for a 3-year, $200M+ extension this offseason, but has opted to wait to gain another $77–80M and possibly a fourth year
. While both parties remain on good terms, delaying the deal has stirred trade buzz—especially around L.A. Lakers interest amid their rebuild .
Get full context on why Jokic’s timing strategy impacts Denver’s cap, potential Lakers scenarios, and free agency implications in the Western Conference.
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#ESPN #NikolaJokic #DenverNuggets #Lakers #NBAFreeAgency #NBA2025 #ContractExtension #NBARumors
Keyword Tags (Inside Description):
Jokic extension delay, Jokic Lakers trade rumors, Denver Nuggets contract news, ESPN breaking NBA, Jokic 2026 deal, NBA Western Conference shakeup, Lakers future plans, Joker contractual strategy
Jokic is eligible for a 3-year, $200M+ extension this offseason, but has opted to wait to gain another $77–80M and possibly a fourth year
. While both parties remain on good terms, delaying the deal has stirred trade buzz—especially around L.A. Lakers interest amid their rebuild .
Get full context on why Jokic’s timing strategy impacts Denver’s cap, potential Lakers scenarios, and free agency implications in the Western Conference.
🔖 Hashtags + Keyword Tags (Inside Description)
Hashtags:
#ESPN #NikolaJokic #DenverNuggets #Lakers #NBAFreeAgency #NBA2025 #ContractExtension #NBARumors
Keyword Tags (Inside Description):
Jokic extension delay, Jokic Lakers trade rumors, Denver Nuggets contract news, ESPN breaking NBA, Jokic 2026 deal, NBA Western Conference shakeup, Lakers future plans, Joker contractual strategy
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SportTranscription
00:00All men and CC I did survive the flight I survived that tiny little plane from St. Martin to St.
00:05Barts which I know sounds like an insufferable thing to say. Such a hard life for you Smalls,
00:10hard knock life for Michelle Smallman, small plane on the way to St. Barts. Okay but I think about
00:14the world's smallest violin for you. I know do not feel sad for me I survived I'm a survivor here
00:19but I did think about you on that plane. With the Destiny's Child in the background. That's right T.I.
00:23come on in for the remix but I thought about you on that plane CC because I could barely fit in
00:28there. Yeah. I don't know how someone like you who's a taller person. I don't know how I made it to
00:32and I have been to St. Barts before I don't know how I made it on that plane how we got there but
00:37it was a great time once I was there. But you went on that little plane with no air conditioning and
00:42no weight distribution. Yeah it's a little sketch. It's a puddle jumper for sure. It's a puddle jumper.
00:49When you can when you can reach and touch both sides of the plane it's not a settling feeling.
00:54No it is definitely not. Think about it. If you can if you can reach your arms out and touch both
01:00sides of the plane. Yes I didn't think about that. That's a problem. I didn't think about that
01:04and you're right. Not a good thing. It's not a good thing but we survived. We survived. We survived.
01:08I haven't seen you in a while. How have you been? I've been pretty good. I feel a way because you were
01:11with Harry and Freddie yesterday. You know we got show beef. We do. I don't know if that they explained it
01:16to you. They did not. We got some show beef. Oh hold on I didn't know this. This is a long-standing show beef and I just
01:21can't believe that you were so cavalier in terms of driving the show yesterday and being with the
01:28enemy. It made me feel some type of way. But as my teammate you have to tell me who our mutual
01:34enemies are. Well yeah but I would expect that the guys in Vegas East would let you be informed that
01:39we got an issue with Freddie and Harry. They didn't tell me guys. Not just with sports takes but just
01:44in general. We got an issue with them. Okay so what are the issues? Well they were openly campaigning
01:49on the air to have you part of that show and not this show anymore. Well that I don't think is what
01:53Cece's talking about. It's not but you seem pretty quick to want to jump on board with that. No I
01:59just said I love them both. You seem like you wanted to jump over to that show. Wow look at Pat stirring it
02:04up at 6.02 a.m. Well Freddie calls him king mixer. He is the king mixer. Yeah but I mean we got I mean
02:11there's there's several things. I think it's too lengthy to outline right now. Maybe I have to come up
02:16with the candy power ranking. Top five reasons why we got show beef with Freddie and Harry. I want
02:20that. But we do have beef. Number five. It's a real thing. Oh okay. And the fact that you were just so
02:25comfortable so cavalier yucking it up with them yesterday. I don't know made me feel away. Made
02:31me feel away. I wasn't sure what kind of attitude I would come to this studio this morning with
02:34towards you. Well why don't we squash our beef because I didn't know that I needed to support you
02:38and your beef. Okay but I just need you to ride for unsportsmanlike and if we got an issue with Freddie
02:43and Harry. If one person on this show has an issue with Freddie and Harry we all got an issue
02:48with Freddie and Harry. That's right. Yeah. Your issues are my issues. And it's not just the bad
02:52sports takes. Okay so you're gonna so you're gonna ride with me on any beefs I have then? Yes. Well
02:58you know who I can't stand is the Kroenke family. Oh. So we got beef with them. Yeah. And that
03:03includes the Denver Nuggets. Yeah. And they're in the news. They are in the news. And maybe it will work
03:09Josh Kroenke like them headlines don't he? Josh Kroenke like them headlines. I don't know why
03:14they would want these headlines. He loves the sound of his own voice. I don't know why he would want
03:18these headlines but the Denver Nuggets are in the news again because their superstar Nicole Jokic
03:23he will not seek a contract extension this summer delaying talks until next summer a league source
03:28confirmed to us here at ESPN yesterday. Jokic has three years remaining on a five-year 276 million
03:35contract extension that he signed back in the summer of 2022. He's of course a three-time MVP.
03:40He has a player option and the final year of the deal worth 62.8 million dollars in 2027-2028 but he
03:49is eligible to sign a three-year 200 million dollar extension up until October 20th. That's according
03:55to our Bobby Marks. Now CC people are are maybe trying to read into this. Is he wanting to explore his
04:01options? Is he wanting to see what Denver does to continue to build around him as far as a contender
04:06is concerned? Is this about the financials? Well by waiting until the 2026 offseason to work on an
04:11extension Jokic is able to add a fourth year at an additional additional 77 million dollars. So there is
04:18financial benefits for him to wait in order to negotiate this deal. But when you first saw this that
04:23he's not going to seek a contract extension this summer and that it's still going to be a little bit of
04:27gray area between he and the Denver Nuggets what was your reaction? My reaction was it's something
04:31to watch because on its face it's about the financials. You're talking about him having two
04:36years with 104 million dollars left on that deal. He's eligible this offseason to sign a three-year
04:42212 million dollar extension but if he waits a year it'll be a four-year 282 million dollar extension
04:48next summer. So it comes down to the reality that it's more money for Jokic if he waits. But there's
04:58also risk involved for the Denver Nuggets if he does wait in terms of seeing how close the Denver
05:04Nuggets are to competing for a title in the Western Conference. When you look at everything that's
05:09happened around the West this offseason with Kevin Durant going to Houston and the Oklahoma City
05:17Thunder winning the championship, the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Golden State Warriors, the
05:22Dallas Mavericks, the San Antonio Spurs, all of these teams are going to be vying for Western
05:29Conference supremacy. And so when Nikola Jokic puts it on the record at the end of last season
05:34that he's frustrated because of the lack of depth on his team not allowing them to compete at the
05:38highest level, the starters not having enough gas at the end of the season when the games matter
05:43the most, the organization was put on notice. That was the first shot. This is the second one.
05:50And it's got to be an unsettling feeling if you're Josh Kroenke, if you're part of the KSC group,
05:56and you're going into next summer with Nikola Jokic not having signed an extension.
06:02Because now you're a year away from true free agency. Now we know he's not going to get to free
06:07agency. Whether he ends up staying in Denver or he goes somewhere else, it'll ultimately be a
06:11sign and trade because he'll force his way out. But as you get closer to that true free agency
06:17date, the pressure ratchets up on the Denver Nuggets in order to appease Jokic and make him
06:22feel like they are going to do right by him while he's in the heart of his prime. You are talking
06:27about a player that's 30 years old and is a three-time MVP. He is at the height of his powers.
06:33He is the best player in the world, period. There is no shortage of teams that will want him.
06:38Listen, if the Denver Nuggets put him on the trading block, you're talking about 29 other
06:42teams calling him, seeing what's up. Can you imagine? Yeah, like that's the reality of the
06:47situation that they're in, which makes it even more maddening why Josh Kroenke, a couple
06:53of weeks ago, would mention the God forbid of having to trade number 15. Yeah. Why would
06:59you needle Nikola Jokic when he already doesn't see eye to eye with the organization in terms of
07:05roster composition? You fired the general manager. You fired the head coach that he that he won a
07:12ring with. I just I feel like it's a huge amount of pressure on the Denver Nuggets going into this
07:20season to make this roster work. Now, they didn't sit on their hands this offseason. They went out and
07:25they traded for Cam Johnson. Yeah, they got Jonas Valanciunas, a backup center that can spell
07:30Jokic, 10 to 15 minutes a game. You brought back Bruce Brown. You got THJ. You already have
07:36Christian Braun. You know, you got Zeke Nanji. So you have more depth on your bench now than you did
07:43at the end of last year. But they've got to make it work. It's not just about being able to put names
07:48on the roster. It's about this group coming together and playing well as a team. So there's a huge amount
07:54of pressure on Josh Kroenke. There's a huge amount of pressure on their front office. There's a huge
07:58amount of pressure on first year head coach David Adelman. So they've got to find a way to make
08:02this work. And it's got to work this season, because if it doesn't, I think there's a very
08:08real scenario where we're talking about Nikola Jokic forcing his way out. Now, again, on its face,
08:14I think the decision by Jokic's camp was all about trying to maximize the dollar figure, make as much
08:21money as you can. Yeah, that additional $77 million in the fourth year. Yeah, that's a lot. I mean,
08:24it's the difference between a three-year $212 million extension and a four-year $282 million
08:30extension. That's a big difference. Totally. That's a big difference. But at the same time,
08:37it's also a situation where the Denver Nuggets feel like they're on probation for Nikola Jokic
08:45to finish his career there. Because if they don't close the gap between where they're at
08:50and OKC, then all of a sudden, I think we're entertaining a scenario next summer when Nikola
08:56Jokic is thinking about what the best fit for him is for the twilight of his career.
09:03Well, you mentioned those comments from Nuggets president and ownership Josh Kroenke,
09:06and this was back on June 24th when he was talking about the concerns that the organization had around
09:12the second apron and how it pertains to Nikola Jokic. Here's what he had to say to jog our memory.
09:16For us as an organization, going into that second apron is not necessarily something that we're
09:21scared of. I think that there are rules around it that we needed to be very careful of with our
09:27injury history. The wrong person gets injured and very quickly you're into a scenario that I never
09:33want to have to contemplate, and that's trade in number 15. And so we're very conscious of that
09:39pushing forward and providing the resources that we can when the moment arrives. But that second
09:46apron, is it a hard cap? I'm not 100% sure, but it's something that teams are obviously very aware
09:51of.
09:52Cece, it's been a couple weeks since we first heard that soundbite from Josh Kroenke, and I
09:56still can't believe that he would even say those words out loud about entertaining a world where
10:01number 15 would not be with the Denver Nuggets organization. But you make a good point in the
10:05fact that not only is he, Jokic, waiting because it's financially beneficial for him if he waits,
10:10but this is an organization in flux. You have a new head coach, you have a new front office,
10:15you're tinkering with different pieces around him, and he's also deciding, okay, not only am I going
10:19to wait and figure out how this is going to benefit me financially, but I need to see how this plays
10:24out. I need to see what this new regime and this new look Denver Nuggets team is going to look like,
10:29and if it's going to be a place for me to actually be able to compete for championships moving forward.
10:33And if you're the Denver Nuggets organization, you need to make sure that he feels supported
10:37and that he feels like this is a place long-term where he can get the job done.
10:40This is just another layer, Smalls, and I agree with everything that you said. This is just another
10:43layer that highlights how little the margin of error is for Josh Kroenke in the Denver Nuggets
10:52organization. You're already in a Stack Western Conference. You look at the regular season last
10:56year, you're talking about the two through eight seeds being separated by a total of four games,
11:00and we're not talking about teams like the Dallas Mavericks or the San Antonio Spurs being amongst
11:04that group, and those teams figure to be in the mix this year. So you don't have any margin for
11:11error when it comes to mistakes, missteps, not putting the very best group that you possibly
11:17can around Jokic so they can contend. So there's that element to it, but now you're talking to
11:22Nikola Jokic, essentially putting the organization on notice twice, talking about the lack of depth,
11:28then talking about not signing a contract extension until next summer, even though he's eligible
11:32this summer. Again, I'm not saying that we got to go all the way to DEFCON 1, but this
11:38is something that made you raise an eyebrow when you saw the news yesterday. And off the
11:43heels of what the owner said a couple of weeks ago, if we get to next summer and Jokic has
11:50not signed a contract extension, then all of a sudden the trade talk about him moving on
11:55goes to a fever pitch. He's our Super Bowl champion, Chris Canty. I'm Michelle Smallman.
12:00And we're talking about how there's a lot of pressure on the Denver Nuggets to make sure
12:04that they are putting Nikola Jokic in a position to contend as he's the best player in the world
12:08and they want to maximize having him in the organization. But the Knicks introduced their
12:13new head coach yesterday. Does he have more pressure on him than anyone in the NBA or anyone
12:18in sports period to get the job done? We're going to talk about it next. It's on Sportsmanlike,
12:23presented by Progressive Insurance. We're running back 50 states in 50.