Nikola Jokic publicly urged the Denver Nuggets to add depth to their roster this offseason and have responded by turning Michael Porter Jr., Russell Westbrook and Dario Saric into Cam Johnson, Bruce Brown Jr., Tim Hardaway Jr. and Jonas Valanciunas.
"The Nuggets have their new backcourt, and I was told that—and Mr. Jokic has not spoken on the record, at least in English, about this that I've seen—but I was told through secondhand that Jokic was very pleased with the Nuggets' moves," said ESPN's Brian Windhorst.
While Valanciunas would likely only play limited minutes in the playoffs, his presence would allow the Nuggets to reduce Jokic's minutes during the regular season. Last season, Jokic averaged a career high 36.7 minutes as the Nuggets needed him to play at an MVP level with heavy minutes to even qualify for a non-Play-In spot. Jokic played in only 34.6 minutes per game in 2023-24, which was up from the previous two seasons.
The Nuggets plan to offer Jokic a contract extension this offseason worth $206 million over three seasons.
