Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic agrees to five-year, $270 million supermax extension, agents say

Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic has agreed to the biggest contract in NBA history — a five-year supermax extension worth $270 million, his agents Jeff Schwartz and Excel Sports’ Mike Lindeman told ESPN on Friday.

Jokic, the twice-reigning Most Valuable Player, is now safe with the Nuggets for a total of six seasons for $303 million.

The deal includes a player option and a trade kicker. The contract will start at $46.6 million in the 2023-24 season and increase each season through 2027-28 when Jokic is set to earn $61.5 million.

As a second-round draft pick, Jokic has emerged as one of the most unlikely forces in football history, a transformative attacking talent who has secured back-to-back league MVP honors.

The 27-year-old Jokic averaged 27.1 points, 13.8 rebounds and 7.9 assists in 74 games for the Nuggets last season when he ousted Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid for the 15th time consecutive highest individual honor in the league, won at least two MVP awards in his career and the 10th to win it in consecutive seasons.

He qualified for the supermax when he won his first MVP award after the 2021 season, which set him up to extend the rest of his heyday in Denver. Players qualify for the Supermax by either being named to an All-NBA team in the most recent season or the previous two seasons, or being named Defensive Player of the Year, or winning the league MVP award in one of the last three seasons.

A four-time All-Star and three-time All-NBA selection, Jokic has become arguably the greatest passing big man in the history of the sport, essentially serving as a point guard for Denver in a 6-foot-11 body.

Jokic, who was born in Sombor, Serbia, was drafted No. 41 overall in the 2014 NBA draft. He joined the league a year later and quickly made himself an integral part of Denver’s plans before blossoming into an All-Star for the first time in the 2018-19 season.

Jokic’s rise to All-Star status over the past four seasons has coincided with Denver soaring in the Western Conference standings and making it into the postseason four straight seasons — including a trip to the 2020 Western Conference Finals in of the NBA Bubble at Walt Disney World Resorts in Orlando, Florida.

Now, Jokic and Denver will head into next season hoping to reach the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history, presumably with Jamal Murray missing last season with a cruciate ligament rupture he sustained in spring 2021 and Michael Porter Jr., who missed most of last season after back surgery, both returned to the court alongside him.

With Murray missing each of the past two postseasons, Denver lost to the Phoenix Suns in the second round in 2021 and to eventual champion Golden State Warriors in the first round last season.

Denver began transforming its roster ahead of next season, trading guards Monte Morris and Will Barton to the Washington Wizards earlier this week in exchange for guards Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Ish Smith, with Caldwell-Pope likely as a 3rd-rounder entering Denver’s starting line-and-D-Wing alongside Murray in the backcourt.

ESPN NBA reporter Tim Bontemps contributed to this report.