Nikola Jokic declining ‘NOT A STUNNER’ + Luka Doncic QUESTIONS?! | The Hoop Collective

Nikola Jokic declining ‘NOT A STUNNER’ + Luka Doncic QUESTIONS?! | The Hoop Collective

Uh the Denver Post first reported um and then uh Romy Massuk uh confirmed it and followed up that Nicola Joic and his representatives have informed the nuggets that he will not be accepting the contract extension that was offered um this uh this summer. Um, this is not a stunner because um, uh, even Josh Kroni, their governor, said in his season ended ending media that he was going to offer it and he wasn’t sure um, that it was actually going to be accepted. Um, he has three years left on his contract. Um, but um, and only and the he has an option for the last year. So, he’s got two years left guaranteed with the Nuggets, and he could have done a 2-year extension basically. Um, there would have been a three-year extension. You’d opted out and replaced it, but basically it would have been only two years of new money. Um, next year, he can sign for a much larger deal with three years of new money. So, it’s actually kind of four years when you look at he’d get paid for this year and then add three more. Um, so it kind of made sense that he would not sign this and you know, like Josh Kroni said, the team was prepared for it. That said, McMahon, when your franchise player doesn’t sign an extension, it is going to stutter you a little bit, especially when the team has had, you know, some fumbles the last couple of years with the roster. Yeah. And again, not a surprise. It completely makes sense from a financial perspective for Joker to go ahead and wait. Um, just like it made sense from a financial perspective for Dear Fox to go ahead and wait and not to commit to the Sacramento Kings last summer. Now, we all know how that worked out. Having said that, Joker’s got a little bit more playoff equity, championship equity in Denver, I would say, uh, having won a title as opposed to never having won a playoff series like Darren Fox did in Sacramento. And I do think that the Nuggets have done a really good job despite what Bonds might want to complain about. Um, improving the supporting cast around Joker and you know, hey, Denver is the team that pushed the Thunder to seven games this year. I think Thunder win regardless, but Aaron Gordon playing on a, you know, ripped hamstring certainly didn’t help uh, Dimmer’s cause in game seven. um went out and improved the bench depth from there. So there I don’t see this as some kind of danger sign for the Nuggets, but you’re always more comfortable when you’ve got your guy locked up as long term as possible. Well, what it is going to do is put a whole big spotlight on Denver next season. And you know, the Nuggets are going to have to show that the moves that they made uh actually did improve the roster and actually do give them a better chance of going deep in the playoffs cuz look for everything that we had said here about and you guys are correct and that it didn’t, you know, it certainly makes sense why Joic didn’t extend and it would make sense, you know, and Josh Crockett himself brought up the fact that he might not. It still doesn’t change the fact that he didn’t. And for a team that has come under fire, I think fairly for some of the moves they have made in recent memory, um it is going to I think put a further magnifying glass on this upcoming season. And if they do lose in the first round or lose in the second round again and you stun isn’t playable in the playoffs and Bruce Brown doesn’t replicate what he did a couple years ago and Tim Hardaway isn’t that effective or you know the young guys don’t step forward or whatever. Um, you know, there are going to become natural questions going into next summer about all right, well, is Nicole Joic going to extend now? And if he doesn’t, what’s Denver going to do? Like, that’s going to be hanging over him now. What about Luca Donuch extending now? He doesn’t have much incentive financially either. Well, I I think the what would make sense there is to do the short-term extension to get him to 10 years when he’s renegotiating the next one and then, you know, get you to a higher level uh financially. But hey, I I don’t know. I don’t know where Luca stands right now in terms of what’s been going on with the Lakers. You know, I I do know this guy. One thing I’ll say about Luca, there is something to be said for signaling to especially the new ownership group that I want to be your partner. And there are worse Bontemps doesn’t like that. There are worse brands to commit to and worse ownership groups to commit to than the Lakers and Mark Walter. So what what Luca could do even though there may not be a financial benefit for him connect you know him uh connecting right now there is something to be said for saying to the new ownership let’s get into business together and let’s begin a process of doing this together there is a value to that because if the Lakers know that Luca is invested even if it is for a short deal McMahon they can make some decisions that are that are a certain way and I do think there’s a value to that um that at least has to be considered. So like Dearan Fox, if you know when Dear Fox didn’t extend, it was a message that he wasn’t necessarily firmly committed to the partnership. Even if Luca can leave his options open, there’s something to be said for saying that you’re committed to the partnership. And again, I I do Yeah, I do think that shorter term extension makes a lot of sense for a lot of reasons. Financially, it puts him in the best possible position. And let’s let’s just be honest, the the Lakers aren’t a bad franchise to bet on, especially now that they have the deepest pockets of any ownership group in the NBA. And they’ve got a lot of work. It’s not deeper than Balmer, but Okay. Well, sure. Okay. Much deeper pockets than they have. extraordinarily deep pockets. Um, and the the the best brand in the NBA and, you know, in terms of marketing and all those kind of things. Um, and we’ll see how the DeAndre Aton thing works out. Um, but I believe Luca was on board with that. Obviously, same representation, same draft class, all those sort of things. Um, the LeBron stuff, not not ideal, and that is a guy that Luca grew up, you know, he was his favorite player growing up. and and just quite frankly like the way the Dorian Finny Smith thing went down not ideal. It’s one of Luca’s all-time favorite teammates and uh you know the contracts came out and I get the Lakers prioritizing cap space in the summer of 27. Wendy, did you see um is there any guaranteed money in during Smith’s contract after 2627? There is not. It’s just a two-year guarantee. Huh. I thought I found that to be interesting. I don’t think it was the uh I don’t I don’t think that Dorian Finny Smith left real thrilled with how the Lakers front office handled that whole situation, which isn’t ideal. Not ideal at all. All right. Well, Bon Temps is wants to say something before you get to Dorian Finny Smith. Entire conversation insane. I I don’t understand why it’s up to Luca Dodic to like just bow out to the Lakers to say, “Hey, we should have a partnership here going forward.” To me, the Lakers have to show Luca Donuch they deserve to have a partnership with him. I mean, this is a team that is a mess at the moment and I mean Dorian Finnish Smith thing does not look great for them and they do not have a lot of talent on the roster and this is not a team that Luca Donuch has any sort of loyalty to. They traded for him out of the blue 5 months ago and now he’s there and I don’t see why. To me, if I’m Luca Donuch and I’m his representation, to me, I’m keeping all my options open till next summer. It doesn’t do him any good to sign an extension now and take options off the table next summer. To me, it doesn’t do any good to take any pressure off the Lakers to try to improve. Luca Donic isn’t to me in a position where he should be cool with them having some two or three year rebuilding plan. The Lakers could hardly put contending teams around Anthony Davis and LeBron James. Like and they they’ve made one conference finals in the last 5 years. Like this is not a team that this is not a team to me that deserves some sort of long runway for oh hey trust us to sort three years of your career into our hands and we’re going to build a good team around you. Like if I’m Luca I’m saying I’m Bill Duffy and his his representation. I’m saying all right guys like let’s see what you’re going to do. Like you’re going to wait two years to sign players. Is that the plan? You’re going to wait till next summer to sign players? Like okay like let’s see. like there’s going to be a lot of cap space next summer. There’s a lot of options next summer. I just think that some sort to me the only the this is a one-way transaction if Luca signs this extension where Luca is doing the Lakers a gigantic favor doing any favors for himself. Whereas to me I’m putting all the pressure on the Lakers to try to continue to do smart things to build this team around him as opposed to putting blind faith in them to do so for the next three years of his career. some sort some sort some sort. He was in the eye of, you know, the the storm in terms of being the focal point of the most controversial trade in NBA history, having his life uprooted. There was all kinds of stuff swirling around him after that. If he doesn’t extend, what’s the primary focal point of the Lakers day-to-day coverage going to be? It’s it it’ll it’ll be it would be like KD in his last year in OKC or his last year in Golden State. Do you want to deal with that black cloud covering and those constant questions day after day after day after day knowing this season is going to be a complete circus. And if he does a short-term extension, he still has leverage because we all understand if he demanded a trade next off season, he would have power because he wouldn’t be locked up long term. He wouldn’t be locked into uh a four-year deal like Dame L was when he finally tried to get his way or did successfully got his way out, just not where he wanted to go uh from Portland. So that’s why I think I think the short-term deal is I if he I don’t anticipate Luca will call and ask for my advice hasn’t happened yet but if he does that’s what I’d tell him in a vacuum I understand what you’re saying Bontemps and if that’s the route that he goes there are c it is certainly defensible because of the change in ownership I think there’s a window for him to say let’s get into business together is Mark Walter the governor of the He I understand that Jeannie Bus is the governor the governor of the team. Is there a new is there a new general manager of the team? Well, these are the conversations where where Luca would be able to have the conversation and find that out. And if he didn’t like what he heard on that, then that would be a different story. But I’m just I’m just I think you’re getting into business you’re getting into business with Mark Walter is what you’re doing. What I would say, I think Glucodus can get into business with whoever he wants. And I would keep all of my options open as long as possible. And then if I want to sign a two-year extension next summer, I can still do that. Like that that’s all. Well, I think Luka would I think one of the things without speaking for him, I think he has learned what ownership means and how ownership can be a big factor in the NBA. So, and he’s learned Yeah. He’s learned how when the ownership loves you, life’s great. And when things change, you know, you you lose leverage. But I’m just let’s just use Luca’s own words. June 19th, right after the sale, his tweet, “The Lakers are an amazing organization. I’m looking forward to meeting Mark and excited about the future. I am also grateful to Jeanie and the Bus family for welcoming me to LA, and I’m happy that Jeanie will continue to be involved. I look forward to working with both of them to win championships with an exclamation point.” Now, I anticipate that Laura Bees Sager, Luca’s business manager, probably pinned those words, but Luca certainly approved them before they went out on his social media. So, that’s the last thing we heard. And again, I think if you’re looking forward to working with them, but you’d like to maintain leverage, flexibility, and maximize your financial position, the the short-term extension makes sense. All I’ll say is actions over words, and we’ll find out on August 2nd. I love it. We will see. Probably you know what I don’t rule out this thing not being settled until after Euro basket. Of course. I’m just telling you the whole reason the whole reason it’s an August. That’s fine. Sure. I just wanted just to let people know who Yeah. No, it’s a good point. It’s a good point. The whole reason it’s August 2nd and not like July 2nd is because it has to be timed to when the contract was signed. And the reason it was signed August 2nd is because his deal with the Mavericks was, “Hey, I’m going to go play for Slovenia. This is the year when they qualified for the Olympics and then, you know, made the run in the Olympics and we’ll we’ll take care of business after the Olympics.” And so, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he told the Lakers, “Hey, Euro Basket’s coming and I’m going to play in Euro Basket for my for my national team and we’ll take care of this after that.” Which by the way, Eurob I know St. Gene Lakers assistant is working with the Slovenian national team this summer also a sign of the partnership between Luka and the Lakers too. Yeah. Um and uh by the way they uh the Euro basket goes from August 27th through September 14th, but there’s exhibitions leading up to it. So he certainly could do his business if he wanted to before that, but it wouldn’t be out of the realm of understanding that he would do it after. So we may not get the the the but but he will in theory do interviews between there. He doesn’t have to. I guess it’s not the NBA. Last time what he did last time was said I’m I’m focused on my national team. I’m not talking about the Mavericks or the NBA.

On The Hoop Collective, Brian Windhorst, Tim Bontemps and Tim MacMahon talk through Nikola Jokic declining a contract extension that was offered by the Denver Nuggets. Plus, the trio talk through Luka Doncic’s future in Los Angeles with the Lakers.

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