Denver Nuggets President Josh Kroenke hints at possibility of having to trade Nikola Jokic

Nuggets President Josh Kroenke has alarm bells ringing throughout Denver. He hinted at a Nikola Jokic trade ahead of the 2025 NBA Draft, which has fans throughout the league shocked.

Jokic has evolved into arguably the best player in the entire league over the course of his time in Denver, the crowning achievement being the 2023 NBA Championship the Nuggets won. He’s already a three-time NBA MVP, and he could’ve very easily been a four-time, but voters gravitated towards Shai Gilgeous-Alexander this past season.

So why is Kroenke floating the idea of a Jokic trade? Well, he was making a point regarding the team’s inflated payroll and how the franchise could be an injury away from a possible trade of their star. That didn’t sit well in Denver, though.

“For us, as an organization, going into that second apron is not necessarily something that we’re scared of,” Kroenke said, via Underdog. “I think there are rules around it that we need to be very careful of with our injury history.

“The wrong person gets injured, and very quickly, you’re in the scenario that I never want to have to contemplate, and that’s trading No. 15 (Jokic). We’re very conscious of that, pushing forward.”

Moreover, Jokic is eligible to sign a three-year, $212 million extension in July, but Kroenke doesn’t know if that’ll come to fruition: “We’re definitely going to offer it,” he added. “I’m not sure if he’s going to accept it or not.”

If the Nuggets end up trading Jokic, the reaction would likely surpass the vitriol that we saw dished out to the Dallas Mavericks when they traded Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers. The big man is still playing at the top of his game, and shipping him out instead of finding a way to make it work with the Nuggets would be malpractice in the eyes of many.

This past season was a messy one at the end for the Nuggets, as they fired longtime head coach Michael Malone with just three games left in the regular season. That meant Jokic had to take on a bigger leadership role throughout the playoffs, and the team didn’t skip a beat.

Denver took the eventual champions in the Oklahoma City Thunder to seven games in the second round. It seemed to be their toughest challenge of the playoffs, so imagine what the Nuggets could do if they reloaded this offseason to make another run at a title.

As long as Nikola Jokic is on their team, the Nuggets will have a shot to win it all. If Josh Kroenke and the team’s front office decide to trade that, the reaction will be as heated as we’ve ever seen. Perhaps he learned his lesson by simply floating the idea.