Nikole Jokic made headlines recently with the reports that he may not reach an extension, which could be worth over $200MM, with the Nuggets until next summer, despite having been eligible since the end of the 2026 Finals.

He has publicly stated that he wants to be a “Nugget forever,” and the belief is that he is delaying talks because there’s no particular urgency for him to get a deal done now. In fact, waiting a year would make him eligible to add another year onto the extension, Michael Scotto notes for Hoops Hype.

However, the lack of an agreement creates a level of pressure on Nuggets leadership that is somewhat unprecedented during the Jokic era, Marc Stein and Jake Fischer write in their latest edition of The Stein Line (subscriber link). Team president Josh Kroenke has indicated a level of availability to the non-Jokic players that shows the team’s awareness of the need to upgrade the roster in a serious way after it has spent the last several seasons trying to find the middle ground between building the roster and cutting salary.

The report also implies that Jokic may be exercising some level of pressure on the team to ensure that they deliver a roster he can compete with, Bennett Durando of the Denver Post speculates (Twitter link), wondering if that would impact the Nuggets’ financial decision-making this offseason.

The Nuggets do not have a mandate to cut costs this summer, Sam Amick reports for The Athletic (subscriber link), despite public expectation that they could continue to look for ways to save on the margins. Denver has also seen the fallout from the Celtics offering Jaylen Brown in their pursuit of Giannis Antetokounmpo, and is cautious of alienating their own important players should a rumored deal fall through. Partially because of that, the Nuggetes are not actively shopping Gordon and Murray, though they are at least picking up the phone on offers.

When it comes to said moves, there are plenty of possibilities floating around. Cameron Johnson has drawn interest from the Lakers, Celtics, Heat, Clippers, and Magic, according to Scotto. Aaron Gordon has been a backup trade target for both the Heat and Trail Blazers if they weren’t able to complete trades for Antetokounmpo and Jaylen Brown, respectively.

Valuable bench scorer Tim Hardaway Jr. would likely only return to the Nuggets if he gave them a discount, given that he’s expected to have suitors among teams that have the non-taxpayer mid-level exception.

While Gordon and Jamal Murray remain two players the Nuggets would prefer to retain, the team has at least explored what might be on the market for the two veterans, Stein and Fischer report.

The Stein Line crew also notes that the Nuggets is looking for a former head coach to add as the top assistant under David Adelman for next season.