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When the Denver Nuggets drafted Nikola Jokic in the second round four years ago, they were probably hoping for a guy who could someday be a nice bench piece. What they got instead was a budding superstar that they can build a roster around.
The Nuggets were only one game away from making the playoffs, and them missing the postseason had nothing to do with his play. The Nuggets dealt with a ton of injuries including Paul Millsap missing plenty of games which hurt them at the beginning of the season.
With Jokic's great play also comes some bad consequences for the Nuggets, they are going to have to give him a big contract soon, if they want to keep him.
Jokic has a $1,600,520 team option that the Nuggets need to decide if they want to pick up or decline. According to Nick Kosmider of The Athletic, Jokic's agent has already told the Nuggets that if they pick up the option, they could make a terrible mistake.
Nikola Jokic’s agent says picking up the player’s option and letting Jokic become an unrestricted free agent in 2019 would be an unfavorable scenario for Nuggets. This is not a warning. It’s common sense. Denver won’t pass up the chance to lock Jokic up. Writing is on the wall.
— Nick Kosmider (@NickKosmider) May 3, 2018
Jokic and his agents have made it clear that he wants to be paid this offseason, and not want to wait another year. If the Nuggets do decide to pick up his option, from his agent's comments, it seems like he could decide to walk after the season.
If the Nuggets offer Jokic a max deal this offseason, it could cause other problems for the roster. It will put them close to being over the luxury-tax level and would probably force them to trade or not re-sign some other key players.
At this point, it seems the Nuggets are stuck between a rock and a hard place.
