Jokic Eyes 2027 for Record $360 Million Contract
Kevin O'Connor says Nikola Jokic could sign the biggest contract in NBA history next summer, a five year deal worth around $360 million.
Asked what he plans to do about his future in Denver, Nikola Jokic kept his answer short and direct.
“My idea and my wish is to stay in Denver. I will probably sign next year. My wish is to play in Denver until the end of my career.”
That statement now comes with a number attached. On September 27, well known NBA journalist Kevin O’Connor posted on X that Jokic could sign a five year deal with Denver worth around $360 million next summer, $359.5 million to be exact. It is a projection, not an agreement: Jokic only becomes eligible for that contract in the summer of 2027, and until then nothing has been signed or officially agreed.
If the projection holds, it would be the biggest contract in NBA history, averaging around $72 million a season.
Two figures for the alternative, two sources
Reports disagree on what Jokic could get if he chose not to wait until 2027. Serbian outlet B92 reports that as a free agent at another club, he could sign a four year, $267 million deal right away. American outlet EssentiallySports, on the other hand, writes that a four year, $278 million extension in Denver is already on the table for him now. The numbers differ, but the message is the same: waiting until the summer of 2027 gets him significantly more money than any option available to him today.
According to O’Connor, no one around the league currently expects the three time MVP to leave Denver. Jokic backed that up himself with his own words, and a contract of this size would effectively lock him in as the franchise’s central figure for years to come, while buying the club time to build a championship roster around him.
Denver closed out the 2025/26 season with a 54-28 record, only to fall in the first round of the playoffs to Minnesota. That early exit is exactly why the club is not getting comfortable despite the talk of a record contract: if the Nuggets stumble again in the first round, the pressure on Jokic to consider leaving grows, however distant that possibility sounds right now.
Jokic remains Denver’s biggest asset, and he heads into the season as the team’s top name on ESPN’s list of the league’s best players for a third straight year. He also gets a boost from the roster moves Denver made over the summer, changes aimed squarely at easing his workload in the playoffs, where he has struggled the most up to now.
The actual signing is still a year and a half away, but the first real test comes much sooner. Denver opens the new season on October 22 against Oklahoma City, and only then will it become clearer whether the roster around Jokic is built for a deeper playoff run, the kind that would make his future in Denver an easy call.
