As their situation worsens, Denver Nuggets fans were stunned to hear that the Los Angeles Lakers are reportedly the frontrunners to make a trade for Nikola Jokić. With the 2024-25 NBA season coming to an end, the Nuggets appear to be in a state of confusion and panic.
Although it has been less than two seasons since the team won its first title in franchise history, the Nuggets have made two choices that have drawn much attention. One was adding Russell Westbrook to the roster. The other, more recent move was firing head coach Michael Malone and general manager Calvin Booth.
Since it has not been made clear how Jokić feels about all the changes management has made, trade reports involving the Nuggets star have started to gain momentum. While all of that could be considered dismissible, Jokić’s agent shared an Instagram story revealing the list of frontrunners to acquire Jokić if he is traded from the team.
Will Nikola Jokić Play for the Los Angeles Lakers?
Although the Lakers already have two generational talents on their roster, the team is reportedly interested in adding Jokić. This sounds quite unlikely, if not downright impossible. However, people would have thought the exact same thing if they were told that the Lakers would find a way to pair LeBron James and Luka Dončić.
When Miško Ražnatović, Jokić’s agent, shared a list with odds on which teams would land the current Nuggets star, the Lakers surprisingly held the top spot.
Moreover, the team with the second-greatest odds of getting him isn’t even an NBA team. BC Mega Basket is a Serbian club that the Nuggets star played for before joining the NBA.
Since the Lakers already have several issues on the defensive end, it wouldn’t make much sense to acquire Jokić. After all, that would mean having three elite passers on the court. While that would make for some good marketing, Los Angeles may still not be expected to contend for a title.
Moreover, Jokić has a massive $276 million contract that the Lakers would have to take on from the Nuggets, and they would still need other players to balance their offense and defense. Most importantly, James and Dončić would be expected to take significant cuts from their own contracts to make this happen.
The team with the third-greatest odds is KK Joker, which is based in Serbia and was also a team that Jokić played for in his youth. Finally, the Toronto Raptors were the next NBA team with the highest odds to acquire the big man.
Ražnatović also added a caption indicating that Mega Basket should be fine with second place since it is the Lakers with the top odds. This is a subtle jab at the position and influence that the organization holds over the basketball world.
Fans are left wondering if there is any truth to these claims or if they are all just conjecture.