The Denver Nuggets are “definitely” offering three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic a lucrative contract extension this offseason, but they're apparently not convinced he will sign it.

While speaking with the media today, Nuggets CEO and president Josh Kroenke introduced some doubt that Jokic would put pen to paper this summer.

“We're definitely going to offer it,” Kroenke said of the extension. “I'm not sure if he’s going to accept it or not because we're also going to explain every financial parameter around him signing now versus signing later, be completely transparent, that's the way we always are, and that he makes the best decision for himself and his family, and we'll support him in it.”

The reason why Jokic may want to wait to sign his extension is that, if he were to sign this summer, the extension would be worth around $213 million over three years. Those three years would be added onto the backend of his current deal, negating the $62.8 million player option in 2027-28, the season in which the new extension would begin. That deal would then run from 2027 until 2030.

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If he chooses to wait until next offseason to sign the extension, he would still get the same first-year salary (projected to be $65.5 million) in 2027-28. However, he would be able to sign for four years, instead of three, and thus guarantee himself more than $80 million in the final year of the deal. The extension would run until 2031, when Jokic will be 36 years old.

Theoretically, Jokic could hold off on signing any contract extension and become an unrestricted free agent in 2027. That would give him, as long as he remains at the top of his game and healthy, as much leverage as he can possibly get. If he decides to stay in Denver, re-signing with the team in 2027, he could ink a five-year supermax worth more than $380 million. The deal would extend until he was 37 years old.

Waiting is a risk, though. While players of Jokic's caliber are more well-equipped and positioned to take those risks, Jokic may not want to play two more entire seasons and postseasons without the fallback of a lucrative deal guaranteed to him until the next decade.

Jokic finished second in MVP voting this season behind Shai-Gilgeous Alexander, whose Oklahoma City Thunder eliminated the Nuggets in the second round of the playoffs en route to an NBA championship.