Another frustrating offseason for the Denver Nuggets is ramping up intrigue around what Nikola Jokic's future in the NBA will be. Los Angeles Lakers fans, who are all too familiar with extraordinary circumstances and superstars choosing their franchise, are already feeling emboldened.
Let's be honest about this one: if Jokic does arrive at the decision to leave the Nuggets, the dominant center would need to make an absolute stink about it being Los Angeles or bust for him to end up with the Lakers. Otherwise, this remains wishful thinking at best, or lunacy at worst.
Lakers are going to struggle putting together the necessary assets for Nikola Jokic
The Lakers just drained their asset pool this summer to retool around Luka Doncic. They are not exactly armed with an arsenal of draft picks or young players to throw at a superstar of Jokic's magnitude.
A three-time MVP, former NBA Finals MVP, and future Hall of Famer is going to carry a sizable price tag. There will undoubtedly be teams with much better offers than what the Lakers can come up with, even if exploring scenarios that involve trading Austin Reaves, Walker Kessler, or someone of the sort.
Los Angeles has their superstar, and they have sold out to prioritize his needs this summer. Doncic and Jokic have a friendship off the court that is well-documented. That is where some of the connections will come from. For that to materialize into a partnership on the Lakers, Jokic will need to refuse all other teams that could call the Nuggets.
Teams are definitely going to dial that number, too. Tim MacMahon was confident in that during a recent episode of The Hoop Collective.
MacMahon said: "[Jokic] can profess his loyalty to the Nuggets, there's still going to be teams that are positioning themselves and monitoring that."
Nikola Jokic would need to leverage his contract and demand the Lakers
Jokic is entering the final guaranteed year of his current deal before a player option in 2027-28. For his part, as MacMahon mentioned, the Nuggets center has said all the right things about staying in Denver. In spite of that, they have to be feeling unease about the lack of long-term commitment dried in ink.
Should the Nuggets fail Jokic in 2026-27 with yet another disappointing season, an outcome that is only becoming all the more possible, one would imagine there is at least a double take to consider that exit door. So, let's play out how that could look.
It is tough to think this trade would happen in-season. Keeping Jokic is the preferred path for Denver, and that would involve playing out the entire campaign.
So what happens when that offseason arrives?
If the Lakers are going to get their guy here, the simplest path would be Jokic telling the Nuggets he will pick up that player option and point to Los Angeles as his next team. That allows Denver to recoup the minimal assets necessary to get this one done, and not lose their all-world talent for absolutely nothing.
Anything close to that just does not happen without Jokic exclusively choosing the Lakers. Beyond that, a workable path to the superstar center is extremely difficult to envision.
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