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After Nikola Jokic declined to sign a contract extension with the Denver Nuggets for a second consecutive summer, the franchise where he has spent all 11 seasons of his career, Nuggets Nation, was starting to hit the panic button over a potential nightmare scenario.
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However, it didn’t take long for the three-time MVP to calm nerves by stating that the delay in the decision was purely financial. Specifically, next summer the Nuggets center will be eligible for a $359.5 million supermax contract extension, which would be the largest contract in league history.
Nikola Jokic could be heading toward the largest contract in NBA history
He is eligible for a four-year, $278M extension now, but by waiting until the 2027 offseason, he could sign a five-year, $359.5M deal as a free agent.
According to ESPN’s Bobby Marks, that would take… pic.twitter.com/9uNTI2wgPS
– Basketball Sphere (@BSphere_) July 8, 2026
Jokic opens up about raising modest kids amid his enormous wealth
Additionally, that deal should make him the highest-earning player in league history with over $700 million in career earnings, leaving LeBron James and Kevin Durant in the dust. Now, Joker has decided to open up about what it means for his two children to grow up in that level of wealth.
“My parents taught me values I want to pass on to my kids. If I had to single something out, it would be a sense of ‘normality.’ For my kids, their baseline of what’s normal is already set high: a swimming pool and a nice car are normal to them, whereas back in the day, we didn’t even have a car,” Jokic
So I want them to learn to think about what true normality really means.”
Jokic remains an atypical NBA superstar
It is a sharp contrast to his upbringing in the small Serbian town of Sombor, where his parents were working-class and earned their living through hard labor, struggling just to provide their son with the means to attend basketball practice. Far from his family being poor, but it still pales in comparison to what his son and daughter currently have at their disposal while living in a luxurious villa in Colorado as their father earns millions playing basketball.
Despite all his efforts to instill in his children the values his parents taught him, Jokic will ultimately find it difficult to achieve his intention. It is a fact he himself is aware of: despite all his efforts, his children will simply always enjoy privileges that were unimaginable during his own childhood.
It is an interesting disconnect, certainly not the first of its kind in NBA history, as almost every elite basketball player competing at the highest level today faces this type of issue, if it can even be called one.
Still, that doesn’t mean his kids won’t follow in their father’s footsteps. Jokic remains an atypical NBA superstar, operating without social media channels or mega-brand sneaker endorsements. Through his low-key demeanor over the years, he has established himself as quite possibly the most humble elite athlete on the planet, a daily masterclass in humility that his children get to witness firsthand.
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This story was originally published September 11, 2026 at 10:35 AM.