The Bucks’ messy Giannis Antetokounmpo breakup is starting to look like a warning sign for the Nuggets, and Nikola Jokic sits right at the center of it.
Milwaukee once looked like a team built to stay in the hunt for years with Giannis leading the way. Then the combination of risky trades and untimely injuries wore down that trust, and the whole thing unraveled. Denver is not there yet, but the similarities are hard to ignore: Jokic is watching the Nuggets lose more talent this summer while the same expensive, injury-prone core remains in place.
One of the clearest parallels is that Jokic, like Giannis near the end in Milwaukee, did not sign an extension this offseason even though he was eligible. In the Bucks’ case, that lack of commitment came alongside obvious defensive problems on the roster, and it eventually led to Giannis being traded this offseason and the start of a new era in Milwaukee. If Denver can’t reverse course, it could end up facing the same kind of reckoning.
Jokic has spent his entire rise as a perennial MVP candidate showing loyalty to the Nuggets, but the playoff results haven’t matched his level. Last season ended with a first-round upset against a Timberwolves team that had a hobbled Anthony Edwards, a result that only sharpened the questions around where this group is headed.
Denver’s financial situation makes the problem even tougher. The Nuggets are in the second apron, and that reality forced them to move rising star Peyton Watson this offseason because they couldn’t afford to pay him on his next contract. That leaves Denver without much young talent to lean on and a roster full of older players tied to contracts that are tough to move - a setup that should sound familiar to anyone who watched the Bucks situation deteriorate.
The one thing Denver does have is another All-Star next to Jokic in Jamal Murray, but Murray has consistently taken a step back in the playoffs in recent years. That issue has shown up especially against the Wolves, who keep finding their way into the Nuggets’ postseason path. If Denver is trying to get ahead of another matchup with Minnesota next year, a desperate midseason trade may be the only way to bring in more help.
Even then, the Nuggets won’t have much room to operate. The trade market is thin, and Denver’s financial limitations make the search for real impact talent even harder. With the West looking the way it does now, another first- or second-round exit next season is very much on the table, and that kind of result could push Jokic toward thinking about his future and whether a trade request becomes part of the conversation.
If it gets to that point, the Bucks’ experience offers a blunt lesson. Milwaukee watched its return for Giannis shrink as the back-and-forth dragged on and interested teams lost enthusiasm. Denver’s most useful takeaway from that saga may not be how to keep a superstar at all costs, but how to move one before the market turns against him.
If the Nuggets keep sliding down the same road Milwaukee traveled, they should know exactly where it can end.
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Kuzmas case is about more than just opportunity, too. His defensive work last season graded out above average among wings, giving Milwaukee reason to believe he can handle a meaningful role on both ends as the rotation takes shape. For a team that has been sorting through combinations all summer, that kind of clarity at small forward is no small thing. [Read more 🡒]
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Giannis Just Reopened A Bucks Ending Fans Still Dream About
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For Bucks supporters, the emotional pull is obvious. Antetokounmpos Milwaukee rsum already includes two MVP awards, Defensive Player of the Year honors and the championship run in 2021 that ended the franchises long title drought. He stopped short of promising anything concrete, and his future in Miami is still unfolding, but even a loose hint of a possible reunion is enough to reopen a door plenty in Milwaukee have never really wanted to close. [Read more 🡒]