Nuggets owner raises possibility of trading Nikola Jokic

Denver Nuggets owner Josh Kroenke on Tuesday raised the possibility that the team might have to trade Nikola Jokic in a bad scenario.

Kroenke was speaking with the media and answering various questions. One thing he said was that the Nuggets, which are projected to have $220 million in salary-cap allocations, are leery about going into the second tax apron. Kroenke said that such levels of spending could put them into a bad place that could lead to conversations of trading Jokic.

“For us, as an organization, going into that second apron is not necessarily something that we’re scared of. 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 into a scenario that I never want to have to contemplate — and that’s trading [Nikola Jokic],” Kroenke said.

“We’re very conscious of that pushing forward and providing the resources that we can when the moment arrives. But that second apron — is it a hard cap? I’m not 100 percent sure, but it’s something that teams are obviously very aware of going forward.”

The second apron is projected to be at $207.8 million for next season. Teams that spend beyond that amount become limited in their roster flexibility. There are multiple restrictions placed on teams’ ability to make trades, such as salary-matching limits. They can’t use the full midlevel exception to sign players, and there are significant luxury-tax penalties, where the amount a player signs for can cost the team much more in penalties.

The Nuggets faced the challenges of the second apron when they were trying to replace Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who signed with Orlando last year. Denver has some players like Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. who have injury histories that likely raised these concerns for Kroenke.

Jokic is signed for two more seasons and has a $62.8 million player option for the 2027-2028 season. He can consider signing an extension with the Nuggets this offseason or next. Jokic made clear last month he feels like the Nuggets need to improve.