Nikola Jokic Signs Five-Year, $270 Million Supermax with Denver Nuggets
As soon as the clock hit 6 p.m. ET, the Denver Nuggets’ back-to-back MVP Nikola Jokic had officially signed a five-year, $270 million supermax extension, the richest deal in NBA History, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Jokic joins Devin Booker and Bradley Beal as players who “officially agreed to” supermax deals as soon as NBA Free Agency tipped off Thursday evening.
This was a no-brainer for the Denver Nuggets, who now have secured the NBA’s best center and arguably a top-3 player league wide for five more seasons. Woj highlights that the deal has a trade kicker and that the final year of the extension in 2027-28 – reportedly worth $61.5 million – is a player option.
Jokic, who signed a five-year, $148 million contract ahead of the 2018-19 season, has one year and $33 million remaining on the books for the 2022-23 season. The extension won’t come into effect until 2023-24, starting at $45.4 million.
Last season, Jokic averaged 27.1 points, 13.8 rebounds, 7.9 assists, 1.5 steals and 0.9 blocks per game, shooting 58.3 percent from the floor, 33.7 percent from 3-point range and 81.0 percent from the free-throw line in 74 games. He helped lead an oft-injured Nuggets team – without Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. for practically the entire season – to a 48-34 record and the 6th seed in the Western Conference. They ultimately were eliminated in five games in the opening round to the eventual-champion Golden State Warriors.
Among those who played at least 1,000 minutes, Jokic recorded the highest on-off splits in NBA History, at plus 19.5 points per 100 possessions, which ranked in the 100th percentile among all bigs, per Cleaning the Glass. He was also 11.3 points per 100 (99th percentile) better offensively and 8.2 points better defensively (95th percentile).
All in all, this is a very well-deserved extension for Jokic.
SUBSCRIBE to the Vendetta YouTube Channel!
SHOP for Vendetta Merch!
SUPPORT Vendetta on Patreon!
This is a breaking news story. Stay tuned for updates.
