{"id":133297,"date":"2025-04-08T16:23:30","date_gmt":"2025-04-08T20:23:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=133297"},"modified":"2025-04-08T16:23:30","modified_gmt":"2025-04-08T20:23:30","slug":"los-angeles-lakers-nikola-jokic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/04\/08\/los-angeles-lakers-nikola-jokic\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers are Favorites to Land Nikola Jokic After Nuggets Downfall"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>For the last several years, the Denver Nuggets had clarity. They had one of the best coaches in the league in <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/04\/08\/nuggets-fire-michael-malone\/\" target=\"_self\">Michael Malone<\/a>, and a perennial MVP player in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jokicni01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nikola Jokic<\/a>. Now that the Nuggets have fired their head coach, rumors began about the future of the Joker. Can the Lakers land him?<\/p>\n<h2>Lakers Are Favorites to Land Nikola Jokic After Nuggets Downfall<\/h2>\n<p>According to the online betting website Bovada, the Lakers are the favorite to be Nikola Jokic\u2019s next team. Here is a fun fact: only one of the three favorites plays in the NBA. The Lakers, at +500 are the favorite to land the three-time MVP, followed by KK Mega Basket at +600 and KK Joker at +800. The Raptors at +1000 are another option, followed by Clippers, Warriors, and Thunder.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The Lakers are the favorites to be Nikola Joki\u0107\u2019s next team, per <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BovadaOfficial?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@BovadaOfficial<\/a> <\/p>\n<p>Los Angeles Lakers +500<br \/>KK Mega Basket +600<br \/>KK Joker +800<br \/>Toronto Raptors +1000<br \/>Los Angeles Clippers +1200<br \/>Golden State Warriors +1800<br \/>Oklahoma City Thunder +2500<br \/>Brooklyn Nets +2800<br \/>Miami Heat\u2026 <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/FDLk4wUqj1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/FDLk4wUqj1<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheDunkCentral\/status\/1909678905142682059?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">April 8, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>But how much of this is a dream scenario by Lakers fans, and how much of it is reality? For the sake of argument, let\u2019s see whether the Lakers can land the Joker.<\/p>\n<h3>Can the Lakers Sign Nikola Jokic?<\/h3>\n<p>The three-time MVP has a player option for the 2027-28 season. After this season, he is under contract for two more years before he has an option to opt out of his contract. Under the current construction, the Lakers have only $22 million in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/contracts\/LAL.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">salary<\/a> for the 2027-28 season, meaning that if Jokic opts out of his contract at that point, they can outright sign him. Even considering contract extensions for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/doncilu01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Luka Doncic<\/a>, the Lakers can be a player in 2027 free agency. But that is two years away, and if the Nuggets fail again in the playoffs, things might heat up quickly.<\/p>\n<h3>Can the Lakers Trade for the Joker?<\/h3>\n<p>After winning the title in 2023, the Nuggets underachieved last year, losing in seven games in the Conference Semifinals to the Minnesota Timberwolves. A few weeks ago, they were fighting for the second and third spot in the Western Conference. But they have gone 6-9 since March 10. They are currently on a four-game losing streak and might end up in the play-in instead of the playoffs.<\/p>\n<p>If the Nuggets underachieve this season as well, there will be rumblings about the Joker&#8217;s future. Of course, he has never shown any sign of wanting to leave Denver. But his close relationship with Michael Malone will be a huge test. Will he ask for a trade? Or can a team overwhelm the Nuggets with an offer?<\/p>\n<p>In a hypothetical trade scenario with the Lakers, Los Angeles does not have many assets to offer. Their <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/11\/18\/nikola-jokic-nuggets-tried-trade-mavs-luka-doncic\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">dream pairing<\/a> of Luka and Jokic is not an easy task to accomplish.<\/p>\n<p>With the current payroll, the Lakers will be a team under the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com.au\/nba\/story\/_\/id\/44404893\/sources-nba-salary-cap-increase-10-2025-26\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">first apron<\/a> next season. That will make any trade easier because they can receive more money than they send.<\/p>\n<p>For argument sake, they can compile a package of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/r\/reaveau01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Austin Reaves<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/k\/knechda01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dalton Knecht<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/f\/finnedo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dorian Finney-Smith<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hachiru01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rui Hachimura<\/a>, plus three-first round picks. They have their 2026 and 2028 <a href=\"https:\/\/fanspo.com\/nba\/teams\/los-angeles-lakers\/14\/draft-picks\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">first-round picks<\/a>\u00a0and owe a swap to Charlotte for the 2030 pick, but teams have found creative ways to trade swaps.<\/p>\n<p>The problem with any scenario is that the Nuggets do not have their own picks to go into a full rebuild post-Jokic. For now, the Lakers will remain the betting favorite to land the Joker. But that might be more of a pipe dream than a realistic scenario. Of course, unless the Nuggets hire <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/02\/04\/rob-pelinka-nico-harrison\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Nico Harrison<\/a> as their next GM.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a9 Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For the last several years, the Denver Nuggets had clarity. They had one of the best coaches in the league in Michael Malone, and a perennial MVP player in Nikola Jokic. Now that the Nuggets have fired their head coach, rumors began about the future of the Joker. Can the Lakers land him? Lakers Are [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5291,"featured_media":133308,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,20,26,62],"tags":[4556,1133,72],"class_list":["post-133297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-nuggets","category-lakers","category-nba","tag-austin-reaves","tag-luka-doncic","tag-nikola-jokic"],"modified_by":"Jordan Pagkalinawan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5291"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133297"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133297\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":133309,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133297\/revisions\/133309"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}