Nikola Jokić ahead of a new supermax contract: Denver is preparing an offer that could push the boundaries of NBA salaries
Nikola Jokić is once again at the center of one of the biggest financial stories in the NBA. The Serbian center and longtime face of the Denver Nuggets is entering a summer in which, according to reports from American media covering the league, he could sign a new contract extension worth about 278 million dollars for four additional seasons. Such an arrangement, if finalized at the projected amount, would have an average value of approximately 69.5 million dollars per season and would place Jokić at the very top of the NBA's financial hierarchy in terms of annual earnings.
According to information reported by RealGM, citing ESPN insider Shams Charania, Denver expects Jokić to remain tied to the club long term and that his public insistence on staying is not merely a diplomatic statement after the end of the season. Charania stated that the Nuggets organization believes Jokić when he says he wants to stay in Denver and that there are no indications he is considering leaving or pressuring the club to seek another solution. That is an important message for a franchise that won the first championship title in its history with Jokić, but afterward faced more difficult questions about team depth, roster costs and the sustainability of its championship window.
Jokić's case is not only a question of the relationship between player and club, but also a textbook example of how the new collective bargaining agreement and the rise of the salary cap are shaping the market for the NBA's biggest stars. The Denver Gazette, citing Spotrac calculations and explanations from salary-cap expert Keith Smith, reported that a four-year extension could reach about 278 million dollars if the salary cap continues to rise at its current pace. The same source states that, in the case of the maximum permitted salary-cap increase, the total value could be closer to 290 million dollars, which shows how much projections depend on the official figures the NBA publishes before each financial year.
Two financial logics before Jokić
In essence, Jokić has two main decision-making logics. The first is signing a four-year extension as soon as he becomes eligible at the beginning of July, which would secure long-term financial stability and send a clear message that he is staying with the Nuggets through the final stretch of his best playing years. According to available projections, such a contract would take him through the 2030/31 season, or deep into his mid-thirties, which is strategically the cleanest scenario for Denver.
The second possibility would be a shorter or differently structured solution in which the existing player option for the 2027/28 season would be taken into special account. Spotrac states that under his current contract, Jokić has a base salary of 59.033 million dollars in the 2026/27 season, while his player option for 2027/28 is worth 62.842 million dollars. If Jokić and Denver structured the contract so that part of that structure was preserved, or so that they waited for another cycle with new guaranteed years, individual seasons in the final part of the arrangement could exceed the 70 million dollar mark. That is precisely why American analyses mention the possibility that Jokić could become the first basketball player with a single-season salary higher than 70 million dollars.
Such a decision is not simply a matter of the total amount. For a player of Jokić's status, the difference between several million dollars in one year is less important than the structure, length and security of the contract, but for the club every season and every dollar carry consequences in relation to the luxury tax and the so-called aprons. For the 2025/26 season, the NBA officially set the salary cap at 154.647 million dollars, the tax threshold at 187.895 million dollars, the first apron threshold at 195.945 million and the second apron threshold at 207.824 million dollars. Those thresholds are not merely accounting categories: they directly affect the ability to bring in players, use exceptions, participate in trades and shape the roster long term.
Why Denver does not have the luxury of uncertainty
For Denver, Jokić's signature is far more than a formality. Although he is currently under contract for one more guaranteed season, with a player option after that, uncertainty around the status of such a player changes every conversation about the club's future. If an extension is not agreed in time, the Nuggets would enter the season with their best player who is, at least technically, approaching the possibility of entering the market. In the modern NBA, such a situation rarely remains only a sporting question because it affects negotiations with other players, the value of potential trades and the perception of the entire franchise.
According to reports from RealGM and Hoops Rumors, Denver does not plan to view Jokić's contract extension in isolation from the rest of the team. American sources state that the club is expected to hold talks about roster changes because the Nuggets are financially burdened and because they must operate in an environment in which penalties for expensive teams are becoming increasingly strict. Charania emphasized that Jokić is not being presented as a player who is issuing ultimatums, but as the central point around which the club must find a better balance.
That is a key difference compared with the usual NBA crises in which a superstar demands changes or announces a departure. According to available information, Jokić has said on several occasions that he wants to remain a Nugget “forever”, but at the same time, after the end of the season, he admitted that Denver is not where it wants to be in the fight for the title. That combination of loyalty and sporting realism puts pressure on management: signing Jokić is almost a necessity, but the signature itself does not solve the question of how to rebuild around him a team capable of winning the title again.
From the 41st draft pick to the face of the franchise
Jokić's negotiating position stems from a career that is already historic by NBA standards. Denver selected him with the 41st pick in the 2014 draft, and from a player who entered the league without the usual marketing shine, he grew into a three-time regular-season Most Valuable Player, Finals MVP and leader of the team that brought the Nuggets their first championship title in 2023. NBA.com states that Jokić won the Most Valuable Player award in the 2020/21, 2021/22 and 2023/24 seasons, while in the 2024/25 MVP race he finished behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Jokić's impact is difficult to reduce only to numbers, but they clearly explain why Denver has no alternative. According to Hoops Rumors, in the 2025/26 season he delivered another MVP-level performance, with averages of 27.7 points, 12.9 rebounds and 10.7 assists in 65 games, while leading the league in rebounds and assists. For a center, even in an era in which positions are increasingly fluid, such a combination of scoring, playmaking and rebounding control remains an exception. In Denver's offense, Jokić is not only a finishing player in the paint, but the primary creator, reader of defenses and axis around which the rhythm of the entire team is organized.
His value to the Nuggets therefore goes beyond the commercial value of a superstar. Jokić is a system in himself: a player who raises the efficiency of his teammates, reduces the need for a classic point guard, opens space for shooters and punishes every defensive adjustment with a pass or his own attack. When such a player publicly shows a willingness to stay, clubs generally do not debate whether to offer him a maximum contract, but how to bear the consequences after they do so.
Record per season and the broader trend of the NBA economy
Jokić's possible extension comes in a period in which the biggest NBA contracts are pushing boundaries year after year. ESPN previously reported that Jayson Tatum agreed to a five-year extension with the Boston Celtics worth 314 million dollars, which set a new level for the league by total value. Jokić's situation differs in that the contract would be shorter, but the annual average could be higher. Four years for about 278 million dollars means an average approaching 70 million dollars, and possible projections with higher growth of the salary cap push that number even higher.
The rise of such amounts does not mean that clubs are spending without limits. Quite the opposite, the new collective bargaining agreement introduces stricter consequences for teams that go deep into the expensive zones of the salary system. Through the tax and apron system, the NBA has tried to limit the ability of the richest or most willing franchises to endlessly accumulate expensive contracts. For teams like Denver, which already have highly paid core players, every supermax contract is simultaneously a recognition of a player's value and an additional burden for building the rest of the roster.
In practice, this means that Jokić's contract could accelerate decisions about supporting players, the rotation and future trades. Hoops Rumors stated that Denver could consider changes around Jokić, including discussions about the contracts of players who burden the club's salary picture. Such assessments do not mean that the extension is a problem, but that a superstar of that rank determines the order of priorities. First the foundation is secured, and only then is a way sought to rebuild around it a sufficiently deep and flexible team.
The sporting message behind the financial decision
If Jokić signs the extension already this summer, it will be one of Denver's most important sporting messages since winning the title in 2023. The club would thereby confirm that it is not retreating into a phase of uncertainty and that it believes it can still build a team around Jokić for the top of the Western Conference. For a franchise that long searched for a player around whom it could define its identity, losing such a center or facing prolonged uncertainty around him would have consequences far beyond one season.
According to NBA.com, Jokić already signed what was then a historic extension with Denver in 2022 after going from the 41st draft pick to a two-time MVP. That contract has since grown into the foundation of a championship team and proof that the Nuggets, although not traditionally one of the NBA's most glamorous markets, can keep a generational player. A new extension would be a continuation of the same story, but in a different financial and sporting context: Denver is no longer a team merely breaking through toward the top, but a former champion that must prove it can assemble a winning structure again.
For Jokić, the decision also has a symbolic dimension. He has spent his entire NBA career in Denver, became an MVP there and lifted the franchise to a title there. In a league in which stars often move because of better opportunities, markets or team circumstances, continuing his career with the same club would further strengthen his rare position as a player who changed the history of one organization without changing address.
What follows at the beginning of July
According to the Denver Gazette, Jokić will become eligible for a new extension at the beginning of July, and that is when the final financial structure should become clearer. Until then, the key number will remain a projection: about 278 million dollars for four years under current assumptions, with the possibility of a higher amount if the official salary-cap growth is more favorable. Because NBA maximum contracts depend on a percentage of the salary cap, the difference between the projection and the final figure can be significant, especially on contracts of this size.
At the moment, it has not been officially confirmed that the contract has been signed, nor have the Denver Nuggets announced the final terms. The available information nevertheless suggests that both sides are directed toward continuing their cooperation. If that scenario materializes, Jokić could enter a new phase of his career as one of the highest-paid players in league history per season, while Denver would get what matters most in situations like this: the certainty that its future will continue to be built around the best player in franchise history.
Sources:
- RealGM / ESPN Shams Charania – report on the expected Jokić contract extension with the Denver Nuggets and the context of the negotiations (link)
- Denver Gazette – analysis of the possible supermax extension, estimates of total value, player option and salary cap scenarios (link)
- Spotrac – data on Jokić's current contract, salary for the 2026/27 season and player option for the 2027/28 season (link)
- NBA Communications – official data on the salary cap, tax threshold and apron thresholds for the 2025/26 season (link)
- NBA.com / Associated Press – official announcement on Jokić's 2022 extension and the status of the then-record supermax contract (link)
- NBA.com – overview of Jokić's MVP seasons and the context of his status in Denver Nuggets history (link)
- Hoops Rumors – additional data on the ESPN report, Jokić's 2025/26 season and possible changes to Denver's roster (link)