Nuggets Owner Josh Kroenke Casually Floating Out The Idea Of Potentially Trading Nikola Jokic One Day Is Legitimately Insane

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We live in a new world when it comes to NBA team building, roster construction, free agency and trades. Now that the new CBA exists and what it means to be a 2nd apron team, we're seeing teams make drastic decisions left and right. The Mavs offloaded Luka before it came time to pay him his supermax, Jrue Holiday was just salary dumped, the Clippers moved off Paul George, the Suns moved KD, KAT was traded last summer due to his cost and the 2nd apron ramifications. The list goes on and on. For as long as that thing exists, teams are going to have to make tough choices and keeping teams together is going to be virtually impossible.

If anyone should know that, it should be the Nuggets. Coming off their 2023 title, we already saw them make cost-cutting moves with letting Bruce Brown and KCP walk, all while not really spending any money/assets to replace them. As we saw this season, those decisions proved costly. They aren't the only team this is going to happen to, but it's clear the 2nd apron penalties played a role in their roster construction.

The tricky part is that when you have the best player in the world in his NBA prime, you cannot waste it. That means spending on talent to make sure you have a roster that is a legitimate contender. Just having Jokic is like 95% of the work, but making sure you build a strong team around him is crucial. It's what made the 2023 Nuggets so good in the first place. This is the challenge that Nuggets owner Josh Kroenke is now responsible for solving. You could make the case that they aren't too far away, but their salary structure is important moving forward.

Which is why it had to be TERRIFYING as a Nuggets fan to hear Kroenke talk about the 2nd apron and then unprompted bring up the idea of trading Nikola Jokic

I'm trying not to be hyperbolic, but this might be the most insane thing any basketball executive/owner has ever said. Not only that, he said it in public! Let's be perfectly clear, there is no situation in the 2nd apron that could ever exist where the result is "trade Nikola Jokic". The fact that idea even crossed his mind for a millisecond would scare the absolute shit out of me as a Nuggets fan.

You know what you do if you find yourself in the 2nd apron? You trade every single person on your roster not named Nikola Jokic. There are a million ways to get under the apron that do not involve trading one of the greatest players to ever live. I know we saw that people in this position need to be ready for everything and think through every scenario, which is true…..but trading Nikola Jokic is not one of them. Unless he goes to the Nuggets and demands a trade, you keep that man in Denver until he retires. To even entertain the thought of doing anything else is insane.

Talk about moving off Murray, talk about needing to make hard decisions etc, there are plenty of things to say in that spot that are not "trading Jokic". What the hell do you mean when that moment arrives? There is no moment! I'll remind you, the Nuggets barely had a GM until a few days ago with the Draft right around the corner, and this is also the guy who fired their head coach right before the playoffs. Now he's even entertaining a world where the Nuggets trade Jokic?

YIKES.

It doesn't help that the Kroenke's are notorious for being cheap owners. I think that would scare me the most. Knowing their reputation and track record, combined with already laying the groundwork when nobody even asked you about it? Woof.

While your brain says there's no way this will ever happen, that's the thing about this new CBA world. We've never navigated anything like this in NBA history. There's no precedent for what teams will or won't do with these restrictions. We don't know what happens if a team says fuck it and just lives in the 2nd apron for multiple years. 

But what I do know is you in no way trade Nikola Jokic. You surround him with nothing but minimum contracts before you even entertain the thought. Hopefully for his sake, Josh Kroenke understands that.