DENVER \u2014 Without trust, there can be no loyalty. Without loyalty, there can be no Nikola Jokic. And without Nikola Jokic, there can be no Denver Nuggets.<\/p>\n
Jokic missed too many shots against the Minnesota Timberwolves. But Jokic is a straight shooter. And when the Nuggets were told by Jokic that it makes more dollars and sense for him to sign next summer for an extra $80 million, bringing the total value of the extension to $359.5 million, they should believe him.<\/p>\n
When the Timberwolves punked the Nuggets, the final audit was sobering. Denver\u2019s players weren\u2019t tough enough, the bench wasn\u2019t deep enough, the coach wasn\u2019t experienced enough and its two biggest stars \u2014 Jokic and Jamal Murray \u2014 weren\u2019t good enough.<\/p>\n
It speaks to Jokic\u2019s all-time greatness that he averaged 25.8 points, 13.2 rebounds and 9.5 assists in the most disappointing playoff series of his career. The problem was his aim. He made 44.6% of his shots and was unspeakably bad from three-point range at 19.4%.<\/p>\n
One underwhelming performance doesn\u2019t mean Jokic is eyeing the first available off ramp. But he made a shrew move that will be dissected.<\/p>\n
Ahead for the Nuggets? Uncomfortable mornings. Uneasy nights, especially when Denver loses four straight or gags a lead at Oklahoma City.<\/p>\n
But Jokic has never given the Nuggets a reason not to trust him.<\/p>\n
He has delivered in every way imaginable on the court. And the Nuggets have shown him respect when making big decisions.<\/p>\n
The NBA is a players\u2019 league, so anytime a star executes a business move, it sounds alarms. The difference with Jokic? He is drama-free. He loves his family. Loves his horses. Loves basketball. Loves the simple life.<\/p>\n
He is tremendous, not nefarious. He is Nikola, not Giannis Antetokounmpo.<\/p>\n
The Nuggets have endured a forgettable offseason, failing to acquire Jaylen Brown, flirting with LeBron James (unless he started loving skiing more than golfing, he wasn\u2019t coming to Denver), losing Peyton Watson and getting older with the addition of DeMar DeRozan.<\/p>\n
They could win 52 games if Christian Braun rebounds and Aaron Gordon stays healthy. They could also finish with 45 victories, making this a reset season.<\/p>\n
If that happens, the internet will swirl with Jokic rumors. Every scream or animated arms in a timeout will be proof that Jokic wants to leave.<\/p>\n
Not falling for it without more evidence.<\/p>\n
Jokic has said he wants to play his entire career in Denver. Everything he has done, everything about who he is, suggests that Nuggets should believe him. And, after navigating the luxury tax landmines this season, they must do everything to surround him with more talent to win another championship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DENVER \u2014 Without trust, there can be no loyalty. Without loyalty, there can be no Nikola Jokic. And…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":890412,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[2942,64,63,2331,459955,589,25054,590,2041,12274,5132,140840,85,9134,1055,66146],"class_list":["post-890411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-americas","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-culture","tag-entertainment-and-the-arts","tag-ice-hockey","tag-national-hockey-league","tag-nba","tag-north-america","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pittsburgh","tag-professional-sports","tag-sports","tag-team-sports","tag-united-states","tag-winter-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/890411","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=890411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/890411\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/890412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=890411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=890411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=890411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}