Sources: Nikola Jokic commits to five-year, $147M max contract with Nuggets
Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic has reached agreement on a five-year, $147 million maximum contract with the franchise, league sources told Yahoo Sports.
The Nuggets made Jokic a restricted free agent by declining his team option Monday, with the sides planning to agree to a five-year extension. Denver and Jokic’s representatives had planned to reach an agreement upon the outset of free agency, league sources said.
Jokic has become one of the NBA’s brightest young stars, a 6-foot-10 big man able to shoot from long range, handle the ball, pass, rebound and finish in the paint. The Nuggets’ selection of Jokic with the No. 41 pick in the 2014 NBA draft is a reflection of the franchise’s scouting under president of basketball operations Tim Connelly, and the center’s development as a near All-Star is a testament to the work of Jokic and the organization.
Jokic averaged 18.5 points, 10.7 rebounds and 6.1 assists while shooting 39.6 percent from 3-point range in 75 games last season.
Jokic helped lead the Nuggets to a playoff push this past season, finishing 46-36 and losing to Minnesota in essentially a play-in game on the last night of the regular season. He recorded 10 triple-doubles on the season and continued to emerge as a leader alongside young Nuggets Jamal Murray and Gary Harris.
Jokic, a native of Serbia, played for KK Mega Bemax from 2012-15 before signing a four-year rookie contract with the Nuggets.
More from Yahoo Sports:
• Report: Tigers pitching coach fired for racial slur
• NBA free agency: The top 50 players on the market
• Report: Vince McMahon planning to spend $500M on XFL
• Lakers guard Lonzo Ball suffers torn meniscus in left knee
