Nuggets Execs Open Up on Building Around Nikola Jokic

The Denver Nuggets made some big changes in their front office earlier this year in the form of elevating two new faces to lead their basketball operations: Ben Tenzer and Jon Wallace, both named executive EVPs with the responsibility of facilitating a championship core in the Mile High, and perhaps more importantly, around an otherworldly talent in Nikola Jokic.

Oftentimes in the NBA, the process of constructing a championship-level roster around a generational talent comes with extremely high expectations. For a three-time league MVP like Jokic, it's no different, and especially so when looking forward to what this season could have in store.

Jokic is still at the peak of his basketball powers, has remained at an MVP-level for the past half-decade, and in the eyes of many, the best player the sport has to offer across the entire world.

From the perspective of those in the front office, building a roster capable of winning a championship with a talent like that in the building can be seen as a daunting task for some. Yet, in the eyes of the Nuggets' new tandem of executives, they don't quite view their task on the horizon with a ton of pressure.

Instead, Wallace describes the process of building around Jokic more as an obligation instead of focusing on the pressure it comes with.

“There’s an obligation to it,” said Wallace in an interview with The Athletic's Sam Amick. "The word ‘pressure’ just keeps coming up, (but) I don’t think of it as pressure. I think even when you sit and talk with Nikola a lot of times, he’s very upfront about what he needs."

"He (gives) that reassurance that you’re on the same wavelength of him in terms of seeing the game from his perspective, and seeing what the team needs to be successful. He’s so unselfish, so you want to take advantage of that white hot space.”