![\"Nikola](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Nikola_Jokic_MediaDay_1920x1080.jpg\")
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Nikola Joki\u0107 is heading into his 11th NBA season.<\/p>\n
DENVER \u2014 The Nuggets gave Nikola Joki\u0107 what he wanted this offseason, adding the kind of depth the Oklahoma City Thunder boasted when they survived a seven-game second-round series with Denver on their way to winning the NBA championship.<\/p>\n
The expected payoff isn\u2019t just in a deeper rotation and fresher legs come playoff time but also in a colossal contract extension for their superstar next summer.<\/p>\n
Joki\u0107 bypassed the opportunity to sign a four-year, $212 million deal this summer because next year he can sign that same four-year extension for $293 million.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, I don\u2019t think about it,\u201d Joki\u0107 said. \u201cI think those contract extensions come as a reward, as something that is natural to the sport. Especially in today\u2019s NBA how you see how the salary cap is growing and everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Joki\u0107, who is entering the third year of his five-year, $276 million supermax contract, didn\u2019t directly say if he intends to sign the extension in 2026, he did say, \u201cMy plan is to be a Nugget forever.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joki\u0107 seems energized by the changes the Nuggets made this offseason, when they took the interim tag off coach David Adelman, replaced general manager Calvin Booth with the duo of Ben Tenzer and Jonathan Wallace and added several veterans following the trade of Michael Porter Jr. to the Brooklyn Nets.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, they definitely changed the team,\u201d Joki\u0107 said.<\/p>\n
Two seasons after winning their first NBA title, the Nuggets acquired sharpshooting wing Cam Johnson in the Porter trade that also freed up salary cap space to address myriad roster deficiencies.<\/p>\n
They brought back Bruce Brown, who played a critical role in the Nuggets\u2019 title run before cashing in as a free agent afterward. They also added another veteran in guard Tim Hardaway Jr. and traded for center Jonas Valanciunas to back up Joki\u0107 \u2014 and even play alongside him at times.<\/p>\n
The Nuggets also get 2024 first-round pick DaRon Holmes back from a torn right Achilles tendon that sidelined him as a rookie.<\/p>\n
\u201cBruce is back. We won with him. Need to save his career again,\u201d the Joker joked. \u201cWe have Cam and Jonas \u2014 we have a bunch of new guys. We have Holmes healthy. We\u2019ll see. It\u2019s a new energy, new beginning for us. Hopefully, we can do something.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brown, who signed with Indianapolis after the Nuggets\u2019 championship parade and was quickly traded to Toronto, said he pined to return to Denver soon after leaving.<\/p>\n
\u201cIndy was great for me when I was there but it was only three months,\u201d Brown said. \u201cAnd once I got to Toronto we were on two different roads, right? They were rebuilding \u2026 and I was past that time. So, I think right away, as soon as I got there, I wanted to come back.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nikola Joki\u0107 is heading into his 11th NBA season. DENVER \u2014 The Nuggets gave Nikola Joki\u0107 what he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":187231,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,119284,85],"class_list":["post-187230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nba","tag-nikola-jokic-excited-for-denver-nuggets-preseason","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}