Denver Gazette beat writer Vinny Benedetto takes you around the NBA and inside the Nuggets locker room:

NBA Insider

Nikola Jokic can put action behind his words this summer.

“I still want to be a Nugget forever,” Jokic said after the Nuggets’ season ended in Minneapolis.

The three-time Most Valuable Player repeated his statement when asked if that meant he would sign a contract extension to stay in Denver when he becomes eligible in early July. Jokic declined the opportunity to sign a three-year extension last summer – for good reason.

“This year, he can add four additional new years, which will take him into his mid-30s,” Spotrac’s Keith Smith told the Denver Gazette on Tuesday morning.

Offering Jokic the super-max extension, worth 35% of the salary cap, is one of the front office’s only no-brainers this offseason.

The total amount of a four-year extension depends on the growth of the salary cap for players like Jokic who are on max contracts. Spotrac based its total of $278 million on the salary cap’s current rate of growth, which was just below 7% this season.

“If you’re seeing anything bigger, it’s somebody factoring in 7.5, 8, 9 all the way up to 10,” Smith said of the other numbers that are out there.

A 10% jump is the maximum and would have the final sum closer to $290 million. Either way, he’ll be one of the association’s highest-paid players, making roughly $70 million annually. Boston recently inked Jayson Tatum to the largest contract in NBA history, a five-year extension worth $314 million. Jokic can only extend for four years due to the number of years he’s played.

There’s a world where Jokic could wait another year before signing, which would allow him to add one more year of guaranteed money. Jokic is under contract for $59 million next season with a player option worth $62.8 million for the 2027-28 season. Whether the first year of his extension would surpass the total of his player option comes down to the rate the salary cap grows, but any difference would be less than $1 million for a player who’s earned more than $300 million and counting in his career.

The extension that will be offered to Jokic in early July would run through the 2030-31 season.

“The vast majority of players in this situation want to do when they’re kind of down to a year plus an option year is wipe out the option year, add the guaranteed years on, and then it’s just done,” Smith said. “It’s finished. They don’t have to talk about it anymore.”

That sounds like Jokic’s style.

What I’m Thinking

Everything is shaping up for the Thunder to go back-to-back.

Oklahoma City has played the minimum eight games to get back to the conference finals after sweeping the Suns and Lakers. The Spurs and Timberwolves are going to slug it out for at least six games. All of the teams left standing in the Eastern Conference – Knicks, Pistons or Cavaliers – would be significant underdogs in the Finals.

That leaves the Thunder as the prohibitive favorite to be the first team to go back-to-back since the Warriors did so in 2017 and 2018.

Hey, at least the Thunder didn’t have the best lottery luck. Oklahoma City still has the 12^th and 17^th picks this summer, but it could’ve been a lot worse for those rooting against a dynasty.

What They’re Saying

Josh Kroenke did a lot of the talking at last week’s end-of-season press conference.

The Denver Gazette’s Mark Kiszla asked Kroenke if he was the de facto general manager after he received two votes in the Executive of the Year race. The team president explained it as an inside joke from a fellow executive.

“I’ve been in the same role since 2010,” Kroenke said.

“Whether that was Masai Ujiri, whether that was Tim Connelly, whether that was Calvin Booth, whether that’s these guys (Ben Tenzer and Jon Wallace), I’m always going to be there, around, listening and trying to help shape the direction of the franchise.”

He also provided something of an update on a Nuggets practice facility that’s long been in the works.

“It’s part of a larger zoning effort involving a massive development,” Kroenke explained the delay. “It stretches into downtown, so we’re in talks with the city about a lot of those things, including probably the last thing would be making sure that we have safe passage for people over Speer Boulevard around event nights, which has become a very large problem. … It’s not just a practice facility. It’s a much larger conversation with the city.”

What I’m Following

• After his record-breaking 23^rd NBA season ended by getting swept by the Thunder, Lakers star LeBron James said he “doesn’t know what the future holds.” James will be an unrestricted free agent this summer, if he opts against retirement. A return to Cleveland is the most likely outcome with 1:1 odds at BetOnline. Golden State (3:1) and Denver (5:1) are the second and third most likely outcomes outside of the Lakers.
• The Bucks are open to talk Giannis Antetokounmpo trades, according to an ESPN report. Antetokounmpo will have some say in his eventual destination, since there’s only one year left on his contract. Teams won’t want to meet Milwaukee’s trade demands if there’s no assurance Antetokounmpo will sign an extension.
• Washington won the lottery Sunday but will reportedly listen to trade offers. Utah, Memphis and Chicago round out the top four, while the Pacers dropped to fifth and sent the pick to the Clippers.
• Steve Kerr is still the highest-paid coach in the NBA after signing a two-year extension to stay in Golden State.