Jokic in first playoff exit: Nuggets ‘away’ from title contention

MINNEAPOLIS — In the disappointing aftermath of a surprising first-round playoff exit, Denver Nuggets the star Nikola Jokic made it clear that his long-term vision of a franchise NBA career remains unchanged.

“I still want to be a Nugget forever,” Jokic said.

Jokic, 31, has two years and $121.9 million left on his contract, but the second season is a player option, meaning Jokic is only under team control for the postseason, typically creating an unease around an NBA megastar.

But Jokic will be eligible for an extension this summer for up to four years and about $293 million, giving the franchise and its mid-major core a chance to commit to each other long-term. Jokic was asked about his plans to sign it and reiterated, “I still want to be a Nugget forever.”

But that doesn’t mean Jokic entered the offseason in a brighter mood. His Nuggets won 54 games in the regular season, entered the playoffs as realistic title contenders, and instead lost in the first round 4–2. Minnesota Timberwolves The team had no stars Anthony Edwards For the last two matches of the series.

“We just lost in the first round,” Jokic said. “I think we’re a long way away (from title contention).”

Jokic led the Nuggets to a title in 2023 and knows what it takes to be at a championship level. What does he believe needs to change?

“It’s not my decision to be honest,” Jokic said. “Of course, if we were in Serbia, we would all be fired.”

It was arguably the worst playoff series of Jokic’s career. He had 28 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds in Thursday night’s 110-98 Game 6 elimination, but even some late-series stats didn’t quite mask an abysmal start to the set, which buried the Nuggets in a 3-1 hole.

Jokic made just 39% of his shots through the first four games, a stunning conversion rate for a future Hall of Famer who has a career 56% field goal rate, once shot 63% all season and, prior to the Minnesota matchup, had never made below 47% of his shots in a playoff series.

“A lot,” Jokic said when asked how much of the blame rests on his shoulders. “I needed to play better. I needed to play better. I think I was in a rhythm from the third game on, but I needed to play better.”

Jokic got a little help from his co-star. Starting point guard Jamal Murray Had best statistical regular season as a pro, averaging a career-best 25.4 points. He made his first All-Star team and is expected to be named to an All-NBA team for the first time.

But Murray ran up against a matchup Jaden McDaniels in the first round, and Minnesota’s breakout two-way star bottled up Murray while the Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert The paint stuck up.

Murray made just 46 of his 139 shots (33%) in the series and missed 13 of his 17 shots in Game 6, struggling to create separation against McDaniels, who made headlines after Minnesota’s Game 2 win when he individually called Jokic, Murray and several other Nuggets “bad defenders.”

“If you watched the interviews, you know they were all excited for us to play,” Murray said. “They got up for our game. They enjoyed our game. We’ve got to match that. We’ve got to feel the same way about them.”

Jokic and Murray said they still believe their two-man game can be the center of an elite-level offense despite the first-round struggles. Denver had an NBA-best 121.2 offensive rating during the regular season.

With Jokic and Murray remaining, the spotlight will turn to other areas of the franchise and roster, starting with David Adelman, who just finished his first full season as a head coach after taking over for the fired Mike Malone just before the 2025 playoffs.

“It’s not his fault we couldn’t rebound,” Jokic said of Adelman. “It’s not his fault we didn’t catch the ball very well. There’s nothing to blame on David Adelman. It’s all on us.”

Last May, the Nuggets were eliminated by the eventual champions, The Oklahoma City ThunderAt seven games, they sent off in the summer on a slightly more optimistic note.

This April, they only lost to an underhanded Timberwolves team that didn’t feature Edwards. Donte DiVincenzo or Come on Dosunmu Time to close the series.

But Denver had injury excuses. Rising Wing Peyton Watson Missed the entire series on April 1 with a hamstring strain. He will become a restricted free agent in July.

Start wing Aaron Gordon Also missed part of the series, suffering a calf injury in Game 2, missing Games 3, 5 and 6, looking nothing like his usual self while laboring 23 minutes in Game 4.

This is the second straight playoff Gordon has been affected by a soft tissue injury. He suffered a Grade 2 hamstring strain late in the Thunder series last season and has been limited to just 36 games this campaign by recurring hamstring injuries.

Gordon, a massive impact player for the Nuggets when healthy, has three years and $103.6 million left on his current deal.

“They missed a bunch of guys tonight and still won,” Jokic said. “Did we need them? Of course. But if they’re not here, we can’t think if, if, if.”

The Nuggets haven’t had a ton of supplemental help on a consistent basis below Jokic, Murray and Gordon in the roster pecking order.

Cam JohnsonReward offseason additions in a trade for Michael Porter Jr., had a great Game 6, finishing with 27 points in 39 minutes, but was quiet in the other two road losses in the series, finishing with six and nine points, respectively. Christian BrownHis five-year, $125 million extension kicks into next season, with just 50 total points in six games.

“I know it just ended, but I feel like I can’t really give you a complete answer (in the big picture) because it was an incomplete season,” Adelman said, referring to the injury. “It felt like that throughout. It felt like living.”