Marc Stein said on the All NBA Podcast that there is “zero indication” Nikola Jokic wants to leave Denver, even though the Nuggets are entering a pivotal offseason with major roster questions. Stein added, via HoopsHype, that Jokic “has never even betrayed the slightest hint that he wants to go somewhere else.”
That certainty around Jokic stands in sharp contrast to the uncertainty around the team around him. Stein said the Nuggets are facing “an absolute reckoning” because they need “athleticism” and “speed,” while also trying to manage a difficult financial picture.
The timing matters because Jokic is in the third year of a five-year, $276 million deal with a player option for the final season. Any extension conversation will sit at the center of Denver’s long-term planning, especially after a season that exposed the limits of the current roster shape.
Denver finished the 2025-26 regular season 54-28 and entered the postseason as one of the West’s top teams, but the playoffs have told a different story. Through four playoff games, Jokic is averaging 25.0 points, 14.5 rebounds and 7.8 assists, yet the Nuggets trail 3-1 in their first-round series against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
That gap between individual production and team results is exactly why the offseason conversation is so sharp. Stein said that if Jokic were giving an “unvarnished analysis,” he would not see the team “going in the right direction” since the title.
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The supporting cast has also become part of the problem. Jamal Murray is averaging 26.5 points in the postseason, but Denver’s other rotation pieces have been inconsistent, and injuries have limited the club’s flexibility even before the front office starts looking at upgrades.
Jokic’s regular-season numbers still show why Denver is built around him. He averaged 27.7 points, 12.9 rebounds and 10.7 assists, making him the engine of everything the Nuggets do on offense.
But the bigger question is not whether Jokic can still carry a contender. It is whether Denver can build fast enough and athletic enough to match the standard he has set.
For now, the reporting points to one clear conclusion: Jokic staying in Denver is still the expectation, even if the roster around him needs serious reconstruction.
