Denver Nuggets are refusing Nikola Jokic’s demand and NBA Title man is expected to……
The Denver Nuggets and star point guard Jamal Murray agreed to a four-year max contract extension worth $208 million. On the surface, it’s a good deal for Denver and Murray.
But when digging deeper, it becomes apparent that it’s backed the Nuggets into a corner they may not be able to escape.
Denver won the 2023 NBA Championship, the only title in franchise history, behind three-time MVP Nikola Jokic and a core group of starters in Murray, Michael Porter Jr. and Aaron Gordon .
The Nuggets will hang near the top of the West as long as their Serbian star plays in The Mile High City, but with Murray’s money now on the books, Denver’s salary-cap situation moving forward becomes tricky and, in all likelihood, will prevent Jokic from winning another NBA championship.
Murray has been an ideal partner for Jokic since the 2017-18 season when the two began their superstar rises, individually and as a pair.
In 2018-19, Jokic averaged a double-double for the first time, Murray averaged career-highs in points, assists and rebounds and Denver finished second in the Western Conference.
In 2020-21, Porter Jr. and Gordon joined the party, and two years after that, the team broke through and beat the Miami Heat in five games to win the 2023 title.
It was a slow and steady climb filled with injuries and setbacks, but Jokic and Murray dominated during that postseason run and showed what they could do at peak form. However, as steadily as things rose early in the decade, they’ve declined just as steadily in the two years since steadily in the two years since.
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