Denver Nuggets - Drafted 41st overall in 2014
- Birthdate: 02/19/1995
- Drafted (NBA): 41st pick, 2014
- Pre-draft team: Mega (Serbia)
- Country: Serbia
- Hand: Right
- Agent: Jeff Schwartz (Excel Sports Management)/Misko Raznatovic (BeoBasket)
| Date | League | Transaction |
|---|---|---|
| 25th December, 2012 | Serbia | Signed for the remainder of the season with Mega Vizura. |
| 28th February, 2013 | Serbia | Signed a three year extension with Mega Vizura. |
| 2014 NBA Draft | NBA | Drafted 41st overall by Denver. |
| 9th June, 2015 | Serbia | Left Mega Vizura. |
| 12th July, 2015 | NBA | Signed a four year, $5.471 million contract with Denver. Included team option for 2018/19. |
| 25th June, 2018 | NBA | Denver declined 2018/19 team option. |
| 9th July, 2018 | NBA | Re-signed by Denver to a five year, $142,710,045 contract. |
| December 2012 - June 2015 | Mega Vizura (Serbia) |
| July 2015 - present | Denver Nuggets (NBA) |
June 29, 2018
Nikola Jokic
C - 6’10, 250lbs - 23 years old - 3 years of experience
Can you think of a time previously in which an NBA centre has had more triple-doubles than dunks in a season? Welcome to the career of Nikola Jokic, elite oddity.
Offensively, Jokic is a wonder. An excellent passer of both the more basic style and the stylish ones with flair, Jokic is the mainstay of the Nuggets’ offence, and everyone else is to be built around him. In addition to knowing every angle and hitting every cutter, Jokic also handles like the small forward that he isn’t, scores from the post, shoots from outside increasingly well, and is basically everywhere offensively. He is with few peers and no imitators.
Defensively, he’s just bad. In times past, I would say “well he at least has good hands, defends the post OK, makes good swipes”. Meh. He’s just bad defensively. Jokic doesn’t step up to the perimeter, instead sagging back, yet his slow feet make him ineffective defending in space. And around the basket, he is slow, grounded and does not contest. At best defensively, Jokic grabs the rebounds. But that is about it.
So to recap, you have an offensive player who is about as good as can be offensively, able to score and pass from everywhere, who happens to be among the worst defensive players at this position. He does everything for his team, except half of it, and plays as much as he can, while having poor conditioning. What a contradiction. He’s awesome.
Player Plan: Has had a team option for the minimum salary declined, with a max contract forthcoming; Denver had the option of getting him for one more bargain season then head to unrestricted free agency next year, or declining it and have restricted free agency now. Although the same situation came back to bite Houston when they declined Chandler Parsons’s team option back in the day, they did not have the surety of knowing that Parsons was worthy of a max contract is. Jokic is, and so the only way he might be lost is if he didn’t want to re-sign. The risk was that declining it would alienate him and increase that risk. But Denver could still outbid the opposition, and thus should have exercised it in my opinion. Any extra moneys paid in re-signing him next year will be offset by this year’s savings.
June 29, 2017
Nikola Jokic
C, 6’10, 250lbs, 22 years old, 2 years of experience
Bloody brilliant, and that mild cuss word has rarely been so criminally understated. Be it via unrestricted free agency in the summer of 2018, or restricted free agency next summer, just make sure he gets the max and doesn’t leave.
Player Plan: Two years at the minimum salary remaining, with the last being a team option year. Declining that would see him enter restricted free agency instead of unrestricted, but there is only a need or value in that if there is a significant risk he would not happily re-sign the following summer. Which, with a max contract offer on the table, would surely not be likely. Keep and build around.